


Seeking Direction

by Elbowsnapper



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Humor, Male Protagonist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 60,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27696440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elbowsnapper/pseuds/Elbowsnapper
Summary: When Lima Morta, a graduating student of Sanctum, finds out that his insane guardian is the new first-year combat instructor for Haven, he quickly crafts an exit plan. With his bow in hand, and a quiver full of gravity-dust filled spikes, he sets off for Vale—Destination; Beacon.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	1. Beginnings

Monday, 2nd March 79AGW.  
Classroom, Sanctum, Argus City.  
3:53 PM.  
  
“Your individual results will be sent to your personal scrolls on Friday the 6th, as long as there are no unforeseen delays.” Professor Darko said curtly, eyes flicking around the room to meet the eyes of the three who had groaned at the news. “Hm. You will also have the academy applications to look forward to filling out as well, which you should complete before your results arrive; I hope I’ve instilled the need for proactive actions?”  
  
There was another sad groan from the back of the room, followed by a thump of a head hitting the desk. A deluge of mumbled yes sirs washed over the man, and he looked distinctly unimpressed by their lack of enthusiasm.  
  
“Sir, sir! I still haven’t decided which Academy to apply too!” Cherrie said nervously, bright red hair falling around her shoulders. “How long do we have before we have to send them? What if they decline me? Sir! _What if they decline me!?_ ”  
  
Lima couldn’t help but laugh at the girl’s panic; he wasn’t exactly sure about the odds, but he’d put it down as ‘pretty fucking unlikely’ that any of the academies would turn down a willing Huntsman; or a Huntress in this case.  
  
As long as they were good enough to fight off Grimm anyway.  
  
“I’m afraid that is out of my hands now, if you are suddenly finding yourself worried; well, perhaps you should have worked harder?” Professor Darko said dryly. “To answer your other question, your applications must be submitted before the 16th of March; those very applications will be reviewed by the respective academy’s instructors, and an acceptance or declination response returned on the 20th.”  
  
Two weeks felt like it was a lifetime away, it would seem like he had some free time up his sleeves until he had to make a decision.  
  
Lima didn’t really have a preference, other than Shade Academy was probably hot as balls, and Atlas Academy was definitely cold as nuts. Beacon Academy, well; he didn’t know much about other than it was located in Vale. Haven Academy was the closest; he had actually lived in Mistral for several years before he had been dragged to Argus, so it was his default choice.  
  
There was only a single thing Lima wanted from his choice of Huntsman Academia, and it was to get the hell away from Sage. An objective that any one of those four would do; freedom was almost within his grasp, he just had to reach out and take it.  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 2nd March 79AGW.  
Home, Argus City.  
4:15 PM.  
  
“You suck, your face sucks, and your mother sucks-“ Lima complained from flat on his back.  
  
“You never even met my mother, you little shit!” Sage laughed boisterously, “Now get up, you’ve still got Aura, you pansy.”  
  
“Pansy!?” Lima squawked, tilting from the ground all the way back up to his feet without effort. “I almost had you that time, you old bastard!”  
  
Lima dropped his Semblance as soon as he was back to his feet, it was banned during sparring; one of Sage’s many terrible, terrible rules. He angled low and darted around to circle the massive man, but he just turned to keep him in sight.  
  
“Clinging to my arm like a baby isn’t going to be enough to take me down!” Sage cackled, “You gonna hug all the Grimm to death, Lima?”  
  
“It was an armbar, you motherfucker!” Lima cried in outrage. “I’m going to break it next time I swear!”  
  
Lima darted in towards him suddenly, stopping just out of the man's flashing hand and launching a kick up at his face. It connected with a crack and did absolutely nothing as the man's stupid Semblance reduced the impact to basically nothing; at almost no cost.  
  
He ducked backward, reaching up to deflect the man's massive hand away from his head as it tore past his cheek and spun low in retaliation. His heel landed solidly, but ineffectively on the back of the man's knee, but he followed the spin up behind him and pressed down on his leg as hard as he could. Sage’s knee cracked the ground as he forced it down, and the man obligingly dropped to one knee.  
  
It was the most condescending thing he had ever seen.  
  
“Learn how to turn your god damned Semblance off, you asshole!” Lima raged, dragging the man into a sleeper hold.  
  
“It's been sixty years you pansy,” Sage laughed as he used his greater physical strength to start wrenching his way free of the hold. “If I haven’t figured it out already, it's never going to happen!”  
  
Lima gritted his teeth as he fought to keep the bear of a man contained, but despite his advancing age, none of the man's physical strength had lessened at all in the last decade. There was light at the end of the tunnel though, the gap was closing the older they both became; he was seventeen now, only three months away from adulthood and all the joys that would bring.  
  
“Got you!” Sage cackled as he finally managed to break free of the lock, and he wasn’t letting go either.  
  
Sage dragged him off the ground into a circle and then smashed him down onto the dirt. Lima brought forth about twice the amount of Aura that he thought was needed, but the impact still rocked him, and he heard his scroll let out a beep.  
  
He was under twenty-percent Aura again.  
  
“Another loss, huh?” Sage grinned, “You’ve got to be the world's best loser, why I've never seen someone with so many to his name!”  
  
“You cheating bitch.” Lima complained.  
  
He dragged himself back to his feet, only barely managing to snatch the water bottle Sage had tossed at his face in time.  
  
“At some point, you gotta stop hugging the enemy and just fight, you know?” Sage shook his head sadly. “I raised a pussy.”  
  
“It was a fucking sleeper hold!” Lima cried in dismay.  
  
“Does this look like bedtime, boy!” Sage cackled, “Are we here to fight or have a cuddle?”  
  
Lima just let out an incoherent cry of rage and attacked again.  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 2nd March 79AGW.  
The Wall, Argus City.  
9:38 PM.  
  
Sneaking up onto the wall was a favored pastime for just about everyone in Argus; you weren’t supposed to, of course, but as long as you kept out of the way and didn’t make a nuisance of yourself, the guys on watch would often let it slide.  
  
Lima didn’t spot any of the ones he’d noted as the ones to avoid if he didn’t want to get run off, so he thought he was in the clear this time. He made a pillow out of his linked hands and lay back on the wall, he almost groaned at finally getting to stop for the day, everything hurt.  
  
The old bastard was a slave driver, but he did appreciate the man, despite all their arguing.  
  
The sky was bright with stars, and like always, the shattered moon hung in the sky, a testament to some unfathomable accident in an age long passed. He wondered what could have done it, there had been thousands of tales about it, and a thousand more theories that made much more sense, but there was little evidence to support any of them.  
  
The most agreed-upon theory was that it was the result of a meteor, while another one had popped up recently, that stated it had once been part of the Remnant but split off somehow, which made absolutely no sense to him.  
  
How would the moon have gotten up into space?  
  
Hell, there were other tales, more eldritch; A ancient dragon Grimm had done it, or the moon itself was the origin of the Grimm. In some stories, it was actually an immense Grimm whose face hid always within the shadow, evicted from the earth with the power of an ancient warrior's Semblance.  
  
Lima wasn’t sure that any of them were close to the truth, but you didn’t need to know their origin to kill them; you just needed a bow, an arrow, and a desire to wipe every last one of the monsters from the face of Remnant.  
  
Coincidentally, he had all three of those things.  
  
He wondered what the world would have been like without them, would Atlas have conquered the stars? Overcome that no Dust works in space rule?  
  
Would people have even learned how to harness the light of their souls? Develop the skills and weapons they had needed to fight them off? Would their absence actually set humanity back, the constant threat of death was a good motivation to grow, and quickly.  
  
He knew that personally, he probably would have never met Sage or Midori, which was a sad thought, and one he shied away from. Midori was still back in Mistral, he’d end up seeing her if he went to Haven, which was another point towards that choice, it had been a while since he had heard from her.  
  
Sage would have to stay here as well, which was fantastic.  
  
He could get away from the man for a while as he’d need to be here for the next influx of first-year students into Sanctum, seeing as he was the combat-instructor on duty. They’d be signing up about now or in the next couple of days, at least.  
  
Lima fought his way through a yawn.  
  
No more getting his ass kicked every day by the old bastard, he’d finally be free to slack off a bit, and then as soon as he got his Huntsman License, he could head off to wherever he pleased. No more staying inside the walls of Argus.  
  
There was an entire world out there, filled to the brim with the monsters of Grimm, and they certainly weren’t going to kill themselves.  
  
“Fucking Grimm,” Lima mumbled tiredly, eyes closing.  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 9th March 79AGW.  
Sage’s Office, Sanctum, Argus City.  
11:28 PM.  
  
“Stop,” Lima said suddenly. “Say what you just said again.”  
  
“Something wrong with your hearing, boy?” Sage grinned, “I applied as the first-year instructor at Haven Academy, that’s why I called you in; thought I’d share the good news.”  
  
Sage had called him in through the PA system, so everybody in the god damned school knew where he was right now, something that had happened many times in the past, and needless to say, the man was the biggest bastard that had ever roamed the planet.  
  
Lima took a deep breath and let it out through his nose slowly.  
  
“You’re going to be the first-year instructor at Haven Academy,” Lima asked for clarification.  
  
“You got it, buddy,” Sage said easily. “What a shame you already applied, I’ll be able to meet all your little friends and tell them about all the embarrassing stories I’ve been saving up; Midori will be there as well; so I can finally nag her into finally making me some grandchildren before I’m dead and buried. I can’t wait!”  
  
Lima very carefully kept his face blank as he considered the piece of incredible fortune that had just fallen into his lap. He’d been a lazy ass and put off applying for an academy, but Sage had been nagging him about it since Friday, he had just lied and told the man he’d already applied to Haven; to appease the man.  
  
Destiny was calling, and it was saying we are getting the fuck out of Anima.  
  
“I hate you with every fiber of my being,” Lima said weakly, “How long were you planning this?”  
  
“More than a month!” Sage barked out a laugh, “I wasn’t sure I’d get the job, but apparently they lost a staff member during a routine mission a while back, poor bastard.”  
  
Lima stared at the man for a long moment before nodded slowly.  
  
“Yeah, poor guy.” Lima agreed honestly, fuck the Grimm. “I’ll be getting you back for this, you old bastard, mark my words.”  
  
“Any time you little shit!” Sage said gleefully, “I’ll have to show you where my office is at Haven!”  
  
Lima turned on his heel and strode out of his office, listening to the man's laughter echoing behind him. He needed a plan, and he needed one now; there was no way in hecking balls he was going to Haven if the old bastard was teaching there, he’d been through years of the man's nonsense here at Sanctum already.  
  
What did he need to do?  
  
He needed to apply for one of the other three schools, obviously, which he was going to go home and do immediately. It didn’t matter which, ice, sand, or whatever the hell Vale had, any of it was better than Sage.  
  
There was very little chance he wouldn’t be accepted, it may have sounded arrogant, but he was easily the best fighter in his class. The fact that it was thanks to Sage’s constant bullshit had no bearing on the current situation. His non-practical marks wouldn’t have mattered either way, but he was sitting pretty in the top five easily for bookwork, and he’d passed all of the exams with good marks, he was an ideal candidate.  
  
He strode straight out of Sanctum’s front gates.  
  
Screw sitting through a bunch of half-assed classes; the school year had mostly ended by now, all that was left was waiting and revising. A streetcar was drifting on by, and he quickly realized what his biggest issue would be.  
  
Transport.  
  
All three of the other Academies were on different continents, he would need to buy passage; money wasn’t an issue for him, Sage was pretty well off, and Lima had been a decent saver, after having nothing for so long he tended to horde his money, a habit he was glad he was finally getting some use out of.  
  
Each of the Academies opened its gates on the 6th of April, less than a month away from now. He would need to buy the tickets quickly because they would be neither cheap nor bountiful.  
  
The Sanctum graduates that choose Atlas Academy would be taking airships to get there. Shade Academy would mean a trip to Atlas as well, and then either a boat or another airship to Vacuo. Beacon would be a series of trains, one of which crossed the ocean between Anima and Sanus.  
  
Airships were more expensive, and boat trips were supposedly really, really fucking long, depending on the destination. Fuck Vacuo, the heat was probably awful anyway.  
  
Atlas or Beacon.  
  
Intercontinental travel was always expensive, at least from what he’d heard, although it was supposedly much cheaper when you were a Licensed Hunter. A perk of the job apparently, seeing as you fought to protect everyone else, they rewarded you with a little discount.  
  
There was a subsidy for students, but he would need to fill out some paperwork for that, and he needs a signature from his guardian. It baffled him that he could sign up to fight monsters without a guardian's consent, but if he wanted a discount on transport, suddenly, the rules were ironclad.  
  
Obviously, the Academies needed a constant influx of new Hunters, given that a lot of them died on the job, so it made sense to ease the way, but still. He was in a unique position where he couldn’t let on to Sage about his impending vanishing act, so he would have to absorb the full cost without the subsidy to his bank account.  
  
How much would an Airship to Atlas cost? He would need to go check the airship terminal, he wasn’t sure, but he vaguely remembered it being brought up in class once. They’d talked about that subsidy a few weeks ago, what had Darko said?  
  
Argus to Atlas was two thousand Lien? Before the subsidy, with it coming down to only a thousand with it. Two-thousand was nothing to sneeze at, but he could still just afford it.  
  
Beacon would need three trains, Argus to Mistral, say three hundred Lien? Mistral to Port Line, that was the big one, probably five hundred at least. Then Port Line to Vale would be three hundred maybe.  
  
An estimate of eleven-hundred for Vale, or two-thousand for Atlas.  
  
He could tank either of them, but it would be painful either way. He would need to go confirm the prices just to make sure, but was there anything else he had missed? Academy life was all about living on campus, which meant no rent or food costs. He would need to pay for equipment, but his arrows were built to be sturdy and recoverable anyway, so he wouldn’t be replacing them very often.  
  
He wasn’t really a fan of the cold; living on the street when he had first made it to Mistral had given him an appreciation for the indoors, and a nice temperature right in the middle sounded increasingly more favorable.  
  
Argus was a little cooler than he liked as is, given it was so far to the north of Anima. He was definitely leaning towards Vale now that Haven was out of the question.  
  
“Fucking Sage,” Lima sighed.  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 9th March 79AGW.  
Home, Argus City.  
1:45 PM.  
  
He’d been off on both prices; the Airship to Atlas was actually only eighteen-hundred, while the three trains would cost a total of just under thirteen-hundred. Not really helpful either way.  
  
The difference in cost had pretty much made up his mind; Beacon Academy would be his primary choice, Atlas Academy secondary, and Vacuo thirdly. He absolutely wasn’t handing in the Haven one, there wasn’t a snowball's chance in hell of that happening.  
  
Lima fiddled with his scroll, filling out the details for each of the Academies.  
  
Some of them were auto-filled with information in his scroll already, Professor Darko had been right once again. The only way he was getting out of four years of embarrassment, pain, and social orcastrization was to be proactive, so that’s what he was doing. He just needed to keep the façade up, and he would be home free.  
  
The 20th couldn’t come fast enough.


	2. Escape

Friday, 20th March 79AGW.  
Home, Argus City.  
6:45 AM.  
  
Lima stared at the man across the kitchen table, wondering if he somehow knew. He’d been growing more paranoid every day, and the man had said some things that may have indicated that he was secretly aware of his plan all along. Was Sage waiting until the last minute before pulling the rug out from under him? Had he somehow enrolled him into Haven already?  
  
Did he know?!  
  
“Stop glaring at me, you little shit,” Sage snorted, “I haven’t even done anything to deserve it, at least not today anyway.”  
  
Lima went over the man’s words with a fine-tooth comb, was it some hidden reference to having already foiled his master plan? No, he couldn’t know, he didn’t have access to any of the acceptance letters, they had only arrived half an hour ago. Sage didn’t have access to Haven’s systems yet to check his enrolment either, he would need to be on campus for that.  
  
“I'm waiting for you to tell me you also applied to be a first-year student as well, just to fuck me up even more," Lima said slowly.  
  
"Don’t be ridiculous, I applied to all four years in case you got shunted ahead.” Sage grinned.  
  
Lima scoffed.  
  
“Bastard,” Lima muttered, before shaking his head. “Have you spoken to Midori yet?”  
  
“Last night actually,” Sage said happily as he scratched at his white stubble, “She sounded pretty happy that we were coming back, she said she misses you even! No idea why.”  
  
“Bastard,” Lima responded automatically, “It’s because I’m the greatest sibling anyone could ever ask for, obviously.”  
  
“Midori is far too kind a soul to put up with your crap,” Sage said immediately, smirking. “You better behave yourself.”  
  
Lima stared at the man like he’d just turned into a King Taijitu.  
  
“My crap!?” Lima cried, “You’re the one who needs to calm their tits! Midori was probably happy to get a break from your nonsense these last couple of years.”  
  
“Hah!” Sage barked, “I’d never do anything to make my dear child sad, you’re just a special case.”  
  
“Fuck you!” Lima said in disbelief.  
  
Sage just laughed.  
  


* * *

  
Saturday, 21st March 79AGW.  
The Wall, Argus City.  
10:45 PM.  
  
Tomorrow was the day, well, tomorrow was the night anyway; at 9:00 PM exactly according to his scroll and the listed time tables for the ‘Argus Limited.’ It was a four-day journey, from Argus to Mistral, with a brief stopover at Wind Path along the way.  
  
That meant he should be arriving in Mistral on Wednesday the 25th, sometime in the afternoon. He would only have a couple of hours to visit Midori before his next train, but he would have to make do.  
  
There was a piercing cry of what was most likely a Nevermore from the south-east, and Lima turned his head to try and locate it. The personnel manning the wall were already on it, however, and he could see the hundreds of Dust rounds flicking out into the darkness, seconds before a massive spotlight caught the creature just as it was disintegrating.  
  
“Idiot,” Lima grinned, “Imagine attacking the wall head-on.”  
  
It wasn’t exactly uncommon for flying Grimm to approach the walls, and it was almost always the smaller, younger ones that hadn’t learned to avoid the mounted weapons placements. Lima sat back on his hands and stared out into the darkness, but no more Grimm tried their luck.  
  
Most of his paranoia had faded as the deadline approached, and Sage took no discernible actions to indicate that he had discovered his nefarious plot. He was pretty sure he was in the clear now, which meant that he would actually have to go through with it all.  
  
He wasn’t sure he actually expected it to work out, but the idea of heading off on his own sounded exciting.  
  
It had been four years since Sage had dragged him from Mistral to Argus to attend Sanctum. It was almost six years before that when he had first met the man. A decade was more than enough time spent with the boisterous man, and it was time to strike out on his own.  
  
He loved the guy, don’t get him wrong. Sage had dragged him up from a life on the streets, gave him a home and sibling, Midori. He had trained him, fed him, clothed him, and everything else in between. Lima would always be thankful for everything Sage had done for him. But he could be thankful from halfway across the planet because god damn was the man a complete bastard.  
  
Lima turned around and looked out over the city skyline.  
  
Argus was a massive city, one of the largest non-capital cities in the world, in fact, home to something like twelve million Humans and Faunus packed into two thousand square kilometers. They even had an Atlesian military outpost just out of the city, sitting pretty in the shallows.  
  
Vale made it look like a hovel in comparison.  
  
While Argus was barely under the cutoff for a ‘megacity’ classification, Vale absolutely shattered it. It was home to almost a hundred million people and sprawled over a great deal of the west coast of Anima. It wasn’t even the most populated city in the world either-that honor went to Mantle and Atlas; part of the reason that Argus was so large, to begin with, was because of all the trading going on between them and Mantle.  
  
Lima wondered what Beacon was like, he’d had a look at some of the pictures, and it was interesting, at least compared to most of Anima’s architecture.  
  
The houses of Argus were all built-in narrow lots, sitting multiple stories tall, with large skyscrapers dotting the city everywhere you looked. The entire thing was framed by two natural rock formations, the mountainous terrain providing an additional barrier between Argus and any of the land-based Grimm. The suspension bridge struck out across the ocean, branching off to a series of islands where Atlas had set up their base to help defend the profitable city.  
  
There was also the wall that sat beneath him, a massive construction that had been around for much longer than he’d been alive. Finished just after the great war almost Eighty years back.  
  
Lima would miss the place.  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 22nd March 79AGW.  
Train Station, Argus City.  
8:55 PM.  
  
Lima waited impatiently in the queue for the last guy to finish flirting and move the hell out of the way. The woman behind the counter looked strained once the man finally flounced away, and he stepped up without fanfare.  
  
“Hey, missy, wanna hit the bars later?” Lima said, deepening his voice as much as he could.  
  
The woman started laughing.  
  
“I thought he would never stop talking.” She admitted, “Ticket?”  
  
He tugged it out of his pocket before handing it over.  
  
“I’m almost late, I was about to take drastic measures,” Lima laughed, “Guy must have had a sixth sense.”  
  
  
  
The woman inspected it for barely a second before nodding.  
  
“It doesn’t leave until five passed nine, so you still have a few minutes,” The woman smiled, directing his attention to the doors. “I wouldn’t dawdle for too long.”  
  
“You sure you don’t want me to hang around for a bit of a flirt?” Lima snickered.  
  
The woman just shook her head, amused, and tossed him a wave as he left. Lima took her advice and boarded the ‘Argus Limited’ without delay; there was no way his master plan was going to fall apart because he dicked about on the platform.  
  
The train was wide, and the ceiling was at least two stories high; It also had enough cars that they vanished into the tunnel far beyond sight. A member of the train staff pointed him in the direction of his assigned sleeping quarters.  
  
When he reached the right car, there was a single thin corridor that ran the length of it, with rooms taking up the right-hand side. Each room had two bunk beds, and he tossed his bags on the top one. There were private rooms, but they had cost almost twice the amount; they also had all been booked already. There were public cars all down the train as well, so if he wanted to get away from whoever he was boarding with, he would have plenty of options.  
  
Lima climbed up onto the top bunk and grinned to himself; he’d done it.  
  
Sanctum was closed for the next week or so, and Sage thought he was staying at a friend's house for the night, and wouldn’t expect him back until Monday afternoon for hand-to-hand practice. By the time he found the note he’d left the man under his pillow, he would be halfway to Mistral.  
  
“I am the smartest man who ever lived.” Lima said happily, “Fear my brain for it is mighty.”  
  
“Hey, mighty-brain,” A familiar voice said excitedly.  
  
Lima blinked and rolled over to study the woman who had just chucked her things on the bed beneath him. Bright red hair caught his eye, and he realized who it was.  
  
“Cherrie?” Lima asked curiously, “I thought you were going to Haven?”  
  
“I am!” Cherrie said happily, before popping back up to her feet and meeting his eyes. “This is the train to Mistral.”  
  
“I know it is, Cherrie,” Lima rolled his eyes, “It takes like three days to get to Mistral; why are you leaving so early? The Semester doesn’t start until the 6th.”  
  
“Oh!” Cherrie smiled, “I’m going to stay with my older sister she lives there, we planned out an entire week of things to do!”  
  
“Makes sense to me,” Lima said pleasantly.  
  
“Why are you leaving early?” Cherrie asked curiously, just as the train started to move.  
  
“I’m going to Beacon, I’ve got a lot of trains in my future,” Lima smiled, he’d better set the tone for the trip early. “I can’t believe you’re going to Haven, Ew.”  
  
“Hey!” Cherrie squawked, offended.  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 23rd March 79AGW.  
Argus Limited, Anima.  
6:55 PM.  
  
“That’s what you get, you old bastard!” Lima said gleefully, “I told you I’d get you back! Have fun teaching at Haven for four years, Idiot!”  
  
“You little fucker!” Sage laughed, the signal was pretty weak out here, so it came over the line pretty crackly. “I wasn’t expecting it either, damn.”  
  
Lima laughed.  
  
“It was hard keeping a straight face every time you told me about all the shit you were going to do,” Lima admitted, “I almost cracked yesterday.”  
  
“That’s why you were smirking at breakfast!” Sage said in sudden understanding. “I was checking everything in my office in case you’d done something.”  
  
“Yep,” Lima said, amused, “You’re not anywhere near as mad as I thought you’d be, kind of takes some of the fun out of it, you know?”  
  
“Good! You don’t deserve any credit, you little shit,” Sage laughed, “You better not slack off in your training while you’re gone, I didn’t spend years training you so you could die to some fucking Beowolf-which one did you pick anyway?”  
  
Lima waved at Cherrie as she entered the sleeping quarters, she grinned at him.  
  
“Beacon,” Lima said easily, it was far too late for the man to do anything at this point. “I didn't want to go to a desert or freeze my ass off up in Atlas.”  
  
“They’ve got a heating system setup even better than the one here in Argus,” Sage reminded him, “I wouldn’t have chosen Shade either though, fuck all that sand.”  
  
Lima was in complete agreement.  
  
“Any tips for the young hero setting out on his quest to woo all the pretty maidens in the land?” Lima winked at Cherrie, “Wear a condom doesn’t count before you suggest it.”  
  
Cherrie immediately gave him the finger, ouch.  
  
“You’ll probably need to wear two of them if you ever manage to get a girl into the sack, you sensitive prick,” Sage said immediately. “Good luck!”  
  
Lima’s mouth fell open at the sudden critical hit.  
  
“Fuck you!” Lima cried into his scroll. “Idiot! Bastard-”  
  
His scroll beeped, and he stared at it in disbelief; he hung upon him.  
  
“Wow, that was a thing I just witnessed.” Cherrie giggled, “He really gets under your skin, doesn’t he?”  
  
“Ugh.” Lima groaned. “You have no idea.”  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 25th March 79AGW.  
Midori’s Home, Mistral.  
8:43 PM.  
  
“He didn’t!” Midori laughed, lifting her hand to cover her mouth.  
  
Lima pouted at his sister, she was supposed to be on his side here.  
  
“He did dammit!” Lima complained, clearing his throat. “Hello, students of Sanctum, it has come to my attention that a student who goes by the name Lima Morta was seen crying over what could only be described as a third-degree boo-boo. If this poor sensitive soul is listening, please hang in there, Champ.”  
  
Midori fell backward onto the couch and gave a full-on belly laugh at his imitation of the old bastard.  
  
“It’s not funny!” Lima cried.  
  
“It's super funny!” Midori laughed.  
  
“I had people coming up to me for weeks saying hang in there champ!” Lima whined, “How did you even survive him raising you?”  
  
Midori managed to recover after a brief struggle with another onset of giggles before she finally replied.  
  
“He didn’t do anything like that to me,” Midori smiled prettily, “Mum was still around back then, though, so it might have had something to do with it.”  
  
Lima just nodded; he’d never met Midori’s mum, she had died long before he had even met Sage. They both spoke of her with great fondness, and he couldn’t help but think he would have liked the woman, had he met her. Midori was in her early thirties, while Sage was creeping on towards seventy now. Despite the age gap, they had always gotten along pretty well.  
  
“You better brace yourself for four years with him then,” Lima grinned, “He was talking about bullying you into making him some grandkids before I left.”  
  
“Oh god,” Midori laughed, “I have that to look forward to, do I? Maybe I’ll come to Beacon with you, is thirty too old to become a Huntress?”  
  
Lima grinned at the woman before glancing down at his scroll, shit, he was running out of time.  
  
“Trains leaving soon,” Lima sighed. “It was good seeing you again, I’ll try not to make you wait another four years this time.”  
  
Midori pulled him into a hug.  
  
“You can always call me if you want to talk,” Midori said happily, “Beacon has one of the transmit towers like Haven does, right?”  
  
“Yeah,” Lima nodded and pulled back. “I’ll make sure I keep in touch, be safe, okay?”  
  
He picked up his bags and headed for the door.  
  
“I should be the one telling you that,” Midori shook her head, “You’re going off to fight monsters.”  
  
Lima paused at the doorway and grinned.  
  
“I was born for this,” Lima said imperiously. “Cya later, Midori.”  
  
“Be safe, Lima,” Midori said it anyway, but he was already gone.  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 28th March 79AGW.  
Minstral Limited, Anima.  
6:49 PM.  
  
They had just left Shion Village behind, and a small number of passengers had hopped off at their destination. Now they were on route to Port Line, which meant they would be traveling over the ocean soon, which he was looking forward to.  
  
Lima had spotted another familiar mop of red hair, but this time it wasn’t Cherrie; she had gotten off at Mistral with a tearful goodbye. Apparently, she was the type to get attached quickly. This time it was that celebrity girl from Argus, the one from the tournaments, whose name he couldn’t remember, something starting with ‘P.’  
  
He flagged her down the next time he saw her.  
  
“Hey, uh-Piper!” Lima tried, “Pepper?”  
  
The girl was looking at him strangely. Given her hair was bright red, it was likely something that was red.  
  
“Pomegranate?” Lima tried hopefully.  
  
“Are you talking to me?” Pomegranate said curiously.  
  
Oh! Her eyes were green! His were green as well, but they were a much lighter shade, hers were quite dark.  
  
“Pawpaw!” Lima said triumphantly. “How's it hanging? Shouldn’t you be headed towards Haven?”  
  
Pawpaw looked nonplussed for a moment before she tilted her head.  
  
“My name is Pyrrha Nikos, not Pawpaw,” Pyrrha said, bemused. “I’m doing well, thank you; I am attending Beacon, I assume you are doing so as well given you are still on the train, Lima Morta.”  
  
Lima frowned, how the heck did she know his name?  
  
“What the hell is a Pyrrha? How was I supposed to guess that one?” Lima said incredulously, before shaking his head, “How do you know my name; We have never spoken before, ever. Explain yourself this instant, Pawpaw.”  
  
“I heard it quite often over the PA system back at Sanctum,” Pyrrha said, amused, “Did you ever get that third-degree boo-boo looked at?”  
  
Lima groaned; of course, she knew about that.  
  
“You know too much,” Lima said sadly, “I’m afraid I can’t let you reach Beacon alive, Pawpaw.”  
  
Pyrrha laughed.  
  
“Do not worry, I will keep your terrible secrets hidden, Lima,” Pyrrha promised happily. “Why did you choose Beacon?”  
  
“Sage Jett. He was moving to Mistral to be the first year combat-instructor at Haven.” Lima admitted, “I wanted to avoid any more stage five ouchies to my reputation by getting the hell away from the old fossil.”  
  
“He is a very strong Huntsman, very experienced as well,” Pyrrha said thoughtfully, “I enjoyed his classes.”  
  
“Yeah, well; you try sparring with him daily and come tell me how much fun you had.” Lima huffed, “He’s kicked my ass so many times by now; that whenever I get a cold, I sneeze shoelaces.”  
  
Pyrrha let out a startled laugh at the phrase but gave him a more critical look over.  
  
“We were never in the same class,” Pyrrha said thoughtfully, “I can’t remember seeing you fight in any of the larger combat simulations either.”  
  
“I did enough fighting at home that I never really sighed up for any of the war games,” Lima admitted. “You gave up on getting five in a row at the Mistral Regional Tournament, huh? Why’d you choose Beacon?”  
  
Pyrrha blinked and shuffled awkwardly for a moment.  
  
“I wanted to…take a step back, from all the fame.” Pyrrha said slowly, “I thought I could find that on another continent.”  
  
Lima just nodded.  
  
“Both of us are running away, huh?” Lima snickered, turning on his heel. “Well, Pawpaw, go forth and enjoy your relative anonymity while you have the chance. Don’t be a stranger.”  
  
Lima tossed her a wave and headed back towards his quarters, it was getting pretty late.  
  
“It was nice speaking with you, Lima!” Pyrrha called quickly, caught off guard by his sudden exit.


	3. Perspective

Sunday, 29th March 79AGW.  
Mistral Limited, Sanus Ocean.  
9:49 AM.  
  
“I heard them talking about it!” A man whispered.  
  
Lima cracked his eye open; it was his opposite bunk-buddy talking to the guy below him.  
  
“That’s-How many is a ‘flock’ exactly?” The guy on the bottom bunk said nervously. “Are we talking about two of them?”  
  
“Has anyone ever called two birds a flock before? Idiot!” Top-bunk said incredulously, “It’s gotta be at least half a dozen, probably more-they sounded pretty worried about it.”  
  
“Did they say where?” Bottom-bunk said worriedly, “If it was a report from Vale, it has to be on the east coast somewhere? Right?”  
  
“He said they were South of Port Line,” Top-Bunk said, frowning, “So it would be the north-east part of Sanus, and exactly where we are headed-of-fucking-course.”  
  
Lima rolled over to face away from the two men, and they stopped talking almost immediately. A flock of something off the east-coast of Sanus. It could be Nevermore, Giant Nevermore, Griffons, or any number of flying Grimm.  
  
A flock of Nevermore was usually anywhere from twenty to forty; Eight to twenty for the Giant variety. Griffon was about the same, from ten to twenty. Either way, there was no reason to worry; the trains all came with automated defenses built into the roof. There was also a pair of Hunters on board that he had spied having a conversation yesterday. ‘Jesse, and Wedge,’ should be able to handle anything that came up. If the Grimm did make a move, he had his equipment in his bag so he could be ready to fight in less than a minute, but he doubted it would come to that.  
  
Sanus was a big place, and ‘south of Port Line’ could mean literally anywhere on the east coast.  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 29th March 79AGW.  
Mistral Limited, Sanus Ocean.  
2:49 PM.  
  
By the time the glass from the window settled on the floor of his cabin, Lima was already dragging his bag out of the luggage compartment. The train shuddered again as a series of impacts rang out along the roof, and the tip of what looked like a bone spear stuck out from the ceiling above him.  
  
“Stop screaming,” Lima demanded, as the man on the bottom-bunk continued to wail.  
  
He dragged his armor on and hooked his quiver of expandable spikes into the back of his belt. He didn’t have time to worry about the green hooded coat. Lima stepped out of the shattered window and stood on the side of the train with the use of his Semblance.  
  
Giant Nevermore, two on top of the train and three in the air; judging from the sound coming from the other side of the train, there was moreover there as well. He strode forward while drawing out one of the spikes, and it expanded to its full length with a click.  
  
He was lucky that he didn’t have to worry about hitting anything important with all this water around.  
  
The spike was more reminiscent of a spear then an arrow, but its function remained the same. He took aim for a moment, dragging his aim around when the creature curved suddenly, paused, and then used his Semblance. The spike disappeared from his hand with a crack, and the Grimm tumbled violently through the air before it vanished into black smoke before it hit the water.  
  
The downside to all the water was he wasn’t going to be retrieving any of his ammo.  
  
Jessie, the Huntress onboard, sprinted across the roof of the train, the tails of her red bandanna fluttering about in the wind. The Huntsman, Wedge, was up the front of the train, firing off a barrage of bullets from some kind of Light-machine-gun.  
  
Lima walked up the wall and stood on top of the train, taking aim at the Grimm that was busy firing a rain of massive feathers, each taller then he was, at the back of the train. The Grimm flapped its wings once to fire off another burst, and Lima shot off another spike at it. The Grimm vanished a moment later, tumbling out of sight, and didn’t reappear.  
  
Jessie was had already clipped the wings of another with her scimitars, and it spun down to the water below, unable to stay aloft with only a single wing. A flash of red in the corner of his eye drew his gaze for a moment, as Pyrrha climbed up the side of the train.  
  
Lima turned back to another of the creatures and fired off the third spike; this one was a bit to one side; instead of splitting the thing down the middle, it tore its right-wing off and dragged it into a violent circle.  
  
He laughed to himself; there was nothing so soothing to the soul then ridding the world of its greatest enemy.  
  
“Lima!” Pyrrha’s voice called.  
  
He turned towards the voice and had to fall backward as one of the smaller Nevermore flashed through the space he had just been standing. He tilted himself back up to his feet as soon as it had passed but didn’t bother shooting at it; it was too small to waste a spike on.  
  
“Thanks!” Lima called happily, enjoying the wind rushing past as it tried to tear him off the roof.  
  
The Nevermore curved around and angled back towards him for another swoop, but this time he could see the thing coming. He stood still waiting for it, and the second its beak entered the edge of his range, it crumpled as if it had hit an invisible wall.  
  
It screeched pitifully before it vanished into a wave of smoke that washed away from him and further down the train. Pyrrha had killed one of her own while he had been distracted, and it vanished a moment later. Wedge was busy turning the last one into nothing more than a series of holes and loose feathers.  
  
It looked like the fun was already over.  
  
Lima looked down at the three empty holes in his quiver and frowned, he hadn’t even arrived at the damn school, and he was already spending money. The cut of Gravity Dust sitting in the base of each arrow was the most expensive part; usually, he would simply need to get close enough to where his arrows had landed, and they would be dragged back towards him; they were more than durable enough to survive the impacts he put them through.  
  
He stared out at the ocean at where his arrows were; he wasn’t getting any of those back.  
  
“Fucking Grimm.” Lima sighed before walking back down the side of the train.  
  


* * *

Sunday, 29th March 79AGW.  
Mistral Limited, Sanus Ocean.  
3:23 PM.  
  
Bottom-bunk guy was gone when he returned to his room; through the train corridor.  
  
The window had been completed sealed over by a metal panel, so he had needed to go open one of the doors between the train cars to get back inside. The feather that had been piercing the ceiling had evaporated along with the creature when it had died, but the hole remained.  
  
A constant whistling of wind rushing past the hole filled the room; there was also glass covering most of the floor.  
  
“Fucking Grimm,” Lima whined, before picking his way over to where he’d thrown his bag.  
  
He packed away his weapons and armor before tip-toeing through the glass and climbing up the ladder to sit on his bed.  
  
“No fucking way am I cleaning this up,” Lima mumbled.  
  
Did the train have a janitor or something? He assumed they had some kind of cleaning staff; they would probably get to his room eventually.  
  
Lima flopped back on his bed and stared up at the annoyingly loud hole in the ceiling. Was he going to have to deal with this for another two days? He might actually be driven mad and have to swear vengeance, go around attacking all the trains on Remnant; he’d need a cool nickname, though.  
  
“The rail tra-” A familiar voice said, from several rooms down in the corridor, but he couldn’t quite make it out.  
  
The voice drew closer, evidently checking in on the occupants of the rooms to make sure nobody was hurt. The bright red mane of Pyrrha Nikos appeared outside his room, and she stepped inside, glancing around at all the glass.  
  
“Sir? Are you okay?” Pyrrha asked worriedly, only able to see his legs.  
  
Lima sat up on his elbows and raised an eyebrow at her archly.  
  
“I’ll never be okay again,” Lima said sadly, “I’ve got a case of the terminal owwies.”  
  
Pyrrha laughed when she realized who it was.  
  
“The two hunters said to thank you for the help,” Pyrrha said, smiling. “But any further actions from ‘civilians’ will have to be reported, or so they told me.”  
  
Lima laughed sheepishly.  
  
“We aren’t supposed to interfere without our licenses.” Lima winced, “Sorry for abandoning you to face their wrath on your own, I totally forgot about that.”  
  
Pyrrha shook her head.  
  
“I forgot about it as well,” Pyrrha admitted, “I’ve never had anyone tell me off for it before.”  
  
“The perks of being the famous Pawpaw of Mistral, huh?” Lima said wryly.  
  
“Yes, in a way.” Pyrrha agreed, pouting at the nickname. “Why did you forget?”  
  
“I always used to sneak off and kill Grimm back in Argus,” Lima confessed, “Don’t tell anybody though, I got enough shit for it from Sage whenever he caught me.”  
  
“That’s very reckless,” Pyrrha looked surprised.  
  
“Daring is the word you’re looking for,” Lima snickered, “Or heroic? Incredible? Handsome?”  
  
“One of those is most certainly not like the others,” Pyrrha laughed, “I shouldn’t judge; you certainly seem to know how to deal with the Grimm.”  
  
“You weren’t half bad either,” Lima offered, before grinning.  
  
He cleared his throat and pointed at her.  
  
“They brought war to our door, but they never knew what they were headed for,” Lima rapped terribly, “It’s the one all the fans adore, the four-score Pawpaw; Laying down the law, and making sure the ones I abhor; those feathered fucks, are Never-more.”  
  
“Oh, lord,” Pyrrha looked embarrassed. “Please stop.”  
  
Lima just laughed.  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 31st March 79AGW.  
Port Line, Sanus.  
8:42 PM.  
  
The train crawled into Port Line, wounded and several hours late. So late, in fact, that Lima had less than twenty minutes to board the last train. Less than twenty people left the train station, while most of them were quickly ferried aboard the Vale Limited.  
  
He handed his ticket over to the man at the counter;  
  
  
  
And was quickly let through; they were obviously skipping some of the checks in order to keep everyone moving. They didn’t want a bunch of traumatized people stewing in the station and potentially drawing in more Grimm.  
  
Even so, it didn’t leave the station until fifteen past; he saw a flash of red hair in the back of the queue as he was getting on, which was probably Pyrrha. They were both headed for the same destination, after all. He boarded with a sigh; three trains were a hell of a lot longer than a single airship would have been. Next time he would just go to Atlas; future frosty ass-cheeks notwithstanding.  
  
At least this one wouldn’t be nearly as long of a trip as the last.  
  


* * *

  
Saturday, 4th April 79AGW.  
Vale Limited, Vale.  
6:42 PM.  
  
Lima watched through the window as they entered the city; it just went on as far as he could see, and then kept ongoing. He had thought that Mistral was big, but Vale was an absolute goliath of a city, just without the tusks.  
  
The tunnel had spat them out right next to the ocean, and the island known as Patch was just barely visible; a sprinkling of lights dotted its surface, marking it out in the dark. The train angled back towards the city of Vale, and he could see an immense cliff face in the distance, with a dark structure visible right in the center on edge.  
  
A massive span of water cut from the ocean all the way through the middle of the city and ended at the cliff. Water was similarly falling straight off the edge in a series of rivers-turned waterfalls along its face.  
  
Beacon was supposedly at the top of that cliff, but he couldn’t see it from the low angle; there was a series of piers and structures at the bottom of the cliff resting on top of the water and a chain of pathways that crept up the sheer cliff allowing for foot travel from the base to high above.  
  
“Oh, I am so going base-jumping,” Lima said, amazed at the sheer size.  
  
He had thought the wall in Argus was tall, but it wouldn’t have even reached a fifth of the cliff’s height. The buildings that had been getting taller the further they made it into the city finally swallowed the view; even with the raised train tracks, the buildings continued higher.  
  
He was left to study the buildings that made up the city.  
  
Argus had tall, thin rectangular houses; Vale’s, on the other hand, were massive square things that stretched five stories tall at a minimum. They were mostly unbroken and seamless except for the occasional alleyway that vanished deep out of sight.  
  
He quickly packed his strewn about things into his bags and hoisted them up over his shoulder in time for the announcement.  
  
“We have arrived at Vale Central Station,” The woman's voice said pleasantly, “Before disembarking, please ensure you have all of your remaining luggage and personal belongings with you.”  
  
Lima gave the room another quick check over before stepping out into the corridor and making his way to the nearest doors. It took a bit of maneuvering to actually get his once tightly packed, but now much looser and, as a result, unwieldy bags, through the doors.  
  
He took a moment to figure out which way he was supposed to go and strode off down the stairs. He’d booked a room at a hotel that was near the station weeks ago, so that was his first stop before he went exploring.  
  
The Airship that was supposed to take the students up to Beacon wasn’t scheduled until tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM, and he had at least three hours before he needed to get some sleep.  
  
Lima wondered what trouble he could get into before that.  
  


* * *

  
Saturday, 4th April 79AGW.  
Radiant Petal Hotel, Commercial District, Vale.  
11:42 PM.  
  
It was almost midnight when he finally returned to the hotel, and the double bed was absolutely amazing.  
  
All single beds could go straight to heck for all he cared; he was never getting in one again. It had obviously been a space-saving measure for the trains, but still, coming from his own queen-sized bed to a single was traumatizing.  
  
He’d stayed out later than he had intended, but this place was fucking gigantic, to put it bluntly. The nightlife was seemingly popping as well because people were still wandering the well-lit city when he decided to call it a night.  
  
Nightclubs, theatres, shops, and everything else were on every street; he would definitely be sneaking off down here on whatever days they got off at Beacon. It almost felt like he could spend a lifetime just searching this side of the city.  
  
Lima yawned loudly in the otherwise silent room and tried to think if he needed to do anything else before tomorrow.  
  
He was pretty sure he was ready. The enrolment package that the Beacon staff had sent to his scroll had told them to expect an entrance exam, the details of which were basically non-existent. The waivers you needed to sign before joining any of the Academies had been in there as well.  
  
You pretty much had to sign off on the idea that the possibility that you would be killed while training or out in the field was a distinct possibility, and if you had any qualms about it to not bother applying.  
  
Well, the wording had been a bit more subtle than that, but the message was clear; You might die during the course of your studies, and they weren’t liable for anything.  
  
It wasn’t really anything unusual though; Sage had told him once that you had to sign similar waivers for just about any job outside the cities, and even a few inside it. The instructors had to sign them as well.  
  
The most prominent use of them was when a project was underway for an expansion of a city. Lima wouldn’t say those happened frequently, but they did happen every year or so. The council of Argus had been discussing one such expansion for more than a year, but it seemed no more likely to occur than a year ago.  
  
If you were going outside of the cities, where the Grimm were found in great numbers, you did so with the understanding that you might not be coming back into them. Lima didn’t have any compunctions about signing it; none of those that had made it this far would, at least he thought so.  
  
He wondered what the Exam was going to be like.  
  
It would be a test of their capabilities, he supposed, something combat-related maybe. They’d already had weeks to look over their applications; all that would be left was to see if they could actually keep up.  
  
Would they put them in a room with a Grimm, maybe? That could be fun. They might pit them against each other, grade them based on their performance. Fighting one of the instructors could be a possibility as well. Hell, it could be a series of tests that included all of those; he had no way of knowing.  
  
Whatever it ended up being, Lima hoped it was exciting.


	4. Confidence

Saturday, 5th April 79AGW.  
Airship Terminal, Vale.  
7:48 AM.  
  
The Airship Terminal wasn’t hard to find, given how many of the metal vehicles were flying towards it.  
  
There were a great many people in the building already, sitting on benches, waiting in queues, or speaking with the counter staff. Lima had been let through right away, likely because his name was listed down as one of the Beacon hopefuls.  
  
He’d come far too early, however, because there was not a single soul in the waiting room. Rather than sit alone in a room for two hours, he headed back out towards the building's café area. There was more than one, and still quite a few tables open at most of them.  
  
Lima ducked into one of them and ordered a coffee, before heading over to where a short boy with light brown hair was sitting.  
  
“Beacon?” Lima asked curiously, and the kid stuttered for a moment before getting himself together.  
  
“Yes! I’m going to Beacon Academy.” The boy squeaked.  
  
“Me too, mind if I sit with you?” Lima grinned.  
  
“No, that’s fine!” He said quickly.  
  
Lima sat down in the booth next to him, so he was facing the crowd walking past the doors.  
  
“What’s your name?” Lima asked when the guy didn’t say anything; instead, he fiddled with his own coffee. “I’m Lima.”  
  
“Oh! My name is Teak.” Teak said, looking faintly embarrassed, “It's nice to meet you, Lima.”  
  
“You too, buddy.” Lima said easily, “I was up half the night trying to figure out what this exam is supposed to be, you got any idea?”  
  
Teak shook his head.  
  
“I was thinking about it too, but there's not enough evidence to pinpoint a specific task.” Teak said quietly, “It’s most likely to be a test of skill, though.”  
  
“Because they already have access to all our book stuff?” Lima asked for clarification.  
  
“Yes, that’s the conclusion I came to.” Teak said in agreement, before looking nervous. “It might not be, though! I could be wrong.”  
  
“It’s all good, your guess is as good as mine, we'll find out tomorrow, I suppose,” Lima said idly, scratching at his cheek. “What’s your tragic backstory, then?”  
  
Teak blinked.  
  
“My what?” Teak said nervously, “I don’t think I have one.”  
  
“Everybody's got one!” Lima said firmly, “You just gotta put the right spin on it; see.”  
  
Lima cleared his throat.  
  
“I was born in a little city outside of Mistral, but then…the Grimm happened.” Lima shook his head sadly, “I ended up in Mistral proper, but then I ran into a Grimm given human form… my guardian; Sage. Ten long years I toiled under his iron rule, and most of that time was spent in Argus, and now I’m here; life is suffering, and yet I do not die.”  
  
“You’re immortal?” Teak asked curiously.  
  
“Of course,” Lima said immediately, “What's your story then, Maple?”  
  
“Teak,” Teak corrected embarrassedly, “Um. I was born in Vale, my father was a Faunus, but my mother is human. It’s just my mother and me now… I didn’t go to a combat school, and I got in on recommendation because I got perfect marks on the NCS tests. I’m not immortal, and I’m really worried I’ll fail the exam.”  
  
“Interesting backstory,” Lima said thoughtfully, “I have two questions; What the hell is the NCS?”  
  
“That’s only one question,” Teak said, confused, “It’s the Non-Combat-School test; if you score above a certain percentage, you can apply for one of the Academies.”  
  
Lima nodded thoughtfully.  
  
“I didn’t know that; I have four more questions,” Lima said, holding up three fingers. “Is your Aura unlocked, and is your Aura unlocked?”  
  
“That’s only two questions! And you said the same thing twice, so it’s really only one.” Teak laughed before shaking his head. “If you pass the NCS exam, you meet with an instructor who unlocks your Aura.”  
  
“So, you’re worried because you don’t know how to use it?” Lima asked curiously.  
  
“Yeah…” Teak said quietly, “I’ve never really been in a fight, either.”  
  
“Don’t worry about it; fighting is easy.” Lima assured him, “You got a weapon?”  
  
Teak nodded and leaned forward; he had a segmented piece of metal in a holster on the small of his back. It looked like it might be a sword of some kind; he could see a barrel near one end of it as well; Sword-gun of some kind, he corrected.  
  
“It’s a rifle and a sword.” Teak said worriedly. “I think I’ll stick to using the rifle though; I’ve had a little bit of practice with those.”  
  
“Nonsense,” Lima said immediately, “We fight like manly men here in Vale, you just gotta stick the pointy bit in the Grimm, avoid the bone plates because they can be pretty durable.”  
  
Lima nodded as if this solved all of the guy's problems, but Teak didn’t seem very reassured.  
  
“I’ve lived here all my life, but I don’t feel very manly,” Teak argued weakly. “Besides, you’re not even from Vale; you said you were from Anima.”  
  
“It’s a trait you pick up after a certain amount of time spent here,” Lima insisted.  
  
“Oh, how long have you been here?” Teak asked, surprised.  
  
“Since yesterday,” Lima said cheerfully.  
  
“I’m doomed.” Teak mumbled, slumping back in his chair.  
  
“You’ll be fine,” Lima said easily, “If the exam is something we can group up in, I’ll give you a hand, alright? You seem like a pretty cool guy.”  
  
“T-thanks,” Teak said faintly embarrassed, “You don’t have to though, that’s not really fair on you.”  
  
“What?!” Lima cried, and Teak jumped in his seat hard enough to hit the tabletop with his knees. “Are you denying me friendship at what could be the most important moments of our lives?!”  
  
“N-no!” Teak squeaked, “I just didn’t want to slow you down!”  
  
“Fantastic,” Lima laughed, “Don’t worry so much, with your giant brain, and my gigantic balls, we will ace this test no problem, Willow.”  
  
“Um,” Teak protested, “My name is Teak?”  
  
“Right, sorry about that,” Lima said solemnly, “I’ll make sure to remember it next time, Mahogany.”  
  
“You’re totally doing that on purpose!” Teak squeaked.  
  
He couldn’t prove anything.  
  


* * *

  
Saturday, 5th April 79AGW.  
Airship, Vale.  
9:03 AM.  
  
Lima leaned against the interior wall of the Airship as it rose into the air.  
  
“Phew,” Lima said, relieved, “We barely made it, Teak.”  
  
“We were here two hours early,” Teak said, amused, “I don’t think we could have not made it.”  
  
“Semantics,” Lima said idly, staring out the window as the City of Vale fell away from them. “Damn, this place looks even bigger from above.”  
  
“Yeah,” Teak said simply, joining him by the window.  
  
  
  
Teak had probably already seen it before, seeing as he lived here, but it was still nothing to sneeze at.  
  
“Lima?” A familiar voice called from behind them.  
  
“Pawpaw!” Lima grinned, turning around.  
  
It was indeed Pyrrha Nikos, dressed in full combat gear; she even had a flappy red tail-skirt thing hanging off the back of her armor, that was new.  
  
“You look like you about to go to war,” Lima said, amused.  
  
Pyrrha laughed lightly.  
  
“Who knows what the instructors at Beacon Academy have in store for us?” Pyrrha said happily, “It might very well be a combat test of some kind.”  
  
Well, she wasn’t wrong.  
  
“This is Teak,” Lima clapped his hand on the short boy’s shoulder and pushed him up beside him. “He’s the strongest Faunus in Vale; you should totally fight him.”  
  
Teak stared at him in horror.  
  
“Really?” Pyrrha said with interest, studying Teak. “It’s nice to meet you, Teak, my name is Pyrrha.”  
  
“Don’t listen to him; I’m not the strongest!” Teak squeaked red-faced. “I don’t even know how to fight yet-It’s nice to meet you too, Pyrrha. I’ve seen some of your fights.”  
  
Teak turned to glare up at him, but it washed off him like it wasn’t even there.  
  
“Sorry, I meant the smartest Faunus in Vale,” Lima said sheepishly, “A battle of the wits is what he truly desires.”  
  
“Stooop.” Teak groaned.  
  
Pyrrha laughed again.  
  
“Do not worry, Teak; I spent several days on a train with him. I know exactly what he’s like.” Pyrrha said reassuringly, “You said you are unaccustomed to battle-does that mean you applied through the NCS?”  
  
Lima pouted.  
  
“Um, yes, I did.” Teak admitted, “I didn’t think I would actually be selected, though.”  
  
“You must have scored quite highly in that case,” Pyrrha said, impressed.  
  
“Perfect marks, apparently.” Lima grinned at Teak's embarrassment. “He’s going to help me cheat on all the exams in exchange for being his bodyguard.”  
  
“That’s not true, either!” Teak cried immediately.  
  
Pyrrha’s amused response was interrupted by the window suddenly lighting up; a projection of a blonde woman appeared on almost every pane of glass in the Airship.  
  
“Hello, and welcome to Beacon; My name is Glynda Goodwitch.” Glynda said pleasantly, “You are among those who are privilege enough to have been selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as you all hold the potential to become powerful Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold that peace. You have all demonstrated the dedication, knowledge, and character needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the training and skill to protect our world from those who would wish its destruction. ”  
  
“Fucking Grimm,” Lima mumbled under his breath.  
  
Pyrrha glanced at him for a moment before turning back, but projection winked out of existence a moment later. A tall blonde boy stumbled past some of the other students looking distinctly ill, and barely a moment later, he threw up in the corner of the Airship.  
  
“Gross,” Lima laughed, before moving towards the poor guy. “You alright, buddy?”  
  
“I’ve been better-” The boy heaved again.  
  
Lima pulled his small backpack around and pulled the thread keeping it closed. He pulled out the bottle of water he had bought at the café, pretty fucking expensive for a water of all things, and uncapped the lid. He stuck it in the boy's face once he was done throwing up, and he took it after a moment of hesitation.  
  
“Thanks...” He said gratefully, “How long will this flight take again?”  
  
“Ten more minutes?” Lima guessed.  
  
The boy just groaned.  
  


* * *

  
Saturday, 5th April 79AGW.  
Landing Zone, Beacon.  
9:22 AM.  
  
Beacon was an interesting feat of construction, at least Lima thought so.  
  
It had many towers, with the largest being situated right in the middle; all of them connected together with a ringed web of buildings. The courtyard they had been dropped off in was a large intersection of paved pathways, with fountains dotted around the area. The more interesting view was the City of Vale from up so high, though, and he spared a couple of minutes just taking it all in happily.  
  
“Teak, we are definitely going base jumping,” Lima said firmly.  
  
“What?” Teak squeaked, “Into the river? That sounds like a terrible idea!”  
  
Even Pyrrha looked a bit hesitant at the idea; Jaune just looked like he wanted to throw up again.  
  
“What about you, Jaune?” Lima asked curiously. “You afraid of a little water?”  
  
“I’m afraid of going splat,” Jaune said honestly. “Are you joking-you’re totally serious.”  
  
“Pyrrha, how about you?” Lima said cheekily, “Are you DTF?”  
  
Jaune let out a startled laugh while Pyrrha turned to face him with raised eyebrows.  
  
“Lima!” Teak yelped, unable to find the words. “Lima!”  
  
“You did that on purpose,” Pyrrha said, amused, “Down to fall, I presume?”  
  
“I could see myself falling for you, sure.” Lima snickered. “We should probably go for coffee first, though.”  
  
Pyrrha just shook her head.  
  
“I’ll think about it-” Pyrrha said, amused.  
  
An explosion went off a little way down the pathway, and Lima had his bow out and pointed in the direction before he realized what had even happened, he paused before pressing his spike back into the quiver. The white-haired girl from earlier and another girl with a red cloak were sitting amongst a mess of luggage, covered in soot.  
  
“Holy crap,” Jaune said, surprised, “That’s Weiss Schnee.”  
  
“Yeah.” Teak nodded from beside them.  
  
“For a second there, I thought the Exam had started early,” Lima admitted, compressing his bow back down to its folded form.  
  
Pyrrha had her hand wrapped around her own sword but had stopped before drawing it.  
  
“An accident with Burn-Dust?” Pyrrha said curiously. “Neither of them looks hurt.”  
  
“Should I go talk to her?” Jaune asked urgently. “I’m going to go talk to her.”  
  
Jaune strode forward without another word.  
  
“Huh,” Lima said, amused, “He’s really going for it.”  
  
“I’m surrounded by the fearless.” Teak complained.  
  
Pyrrha smiled at the boy.  
  
“I’m not fearless,” Pyrrha confessed, “I don’t think anyone is really.”  
  
Lima nodded in agreement, watching as Jaune approached the two girls.  
  
“How do you think this is going to go?” Lima asked curiously.  
  
“Hm?” Pyrrha asked curiously, “Jaune seems very nice. I’m sure he’ll be-oh.”  
  
Jaune sat down next to the red-cloaked girl in defeat, and the white-haired menace flounced away without another word.  
  
“Crash and burn, huh?” Lima snickered. “You can’t win them all, I suppose.”  
  


* * *

  
Saturday, 5th April 79AGW.  
Amphitheater, Beacon.  
9:39 AM.  
  
Lima stood amongst the throng of students, all facing the two instructors up on the stage. One of them was the woman who had made the announcement on the Airship, Glynda Goodwitch; the other was the famous headmaster of Beacon; Ozpin.  
  
The white-haired man surveyed them all with a searching gaze for a long moment before he finally spoke.  
  
“I’ll keep this brief.” Ozpin said steadily, “You have all got your own motivations for coming here, for coming to Beacon. To hone your skills, to learn new ones, to find meaning in a purpose that is so integral to the functioning of our society, to dedicate your lives to protecting those who cannot save themselves.”  
  
Lima listened to the man intently, the way he spoke, it had a quality to it that he hadn’t heard before, almost like a hidden weight behind the words.  
  
“While each of you has unique motivations for being here, I see two commonalities within you all.” Ozpin said firmly, “You are all filled with an abundance of wasted energy, and you are all in need of guidance-of direction.”  
  
A girl who was standing almost next to him, with long blonde hair and a smattering of black scales around her temple, mumbled something under her breath, but Lima couldn’t hear what she had said over the general noise of the crowd.  
  
“You assume that time or knowledge will free you of this curse, but I assure you all,” Ozpin slowly drew his eyes over the crowd. “Your time here will prove that either of these things alone can only carry you so far; It is up to you to take that first step.”  
  
“Thank you,” Glynda said pleasantly, once the man had stepped away from the podium. “You will all gather in the Ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation exam will begin, so gather your resolve. You are now free to explore the grounds, for those who choose to remain; I will be providing a tour. Consider yourselves dismissed.”  
  


* * *

  
Saturday, 5th April 79AGW.  
Ballroom, Beacon.  
8:07 PM.  
  
“Lima?” Teak asked curiously. “Why’d you come all the way to Beacon?”  
  
“Why-you don’t want me here? Is that it!” Lima cried, “I thought we were friends, Teak! The betrayal; it stings!”  
  
Teak held his hands up in a panic, looking around at the other potentials that were now staring at them.  
  
“That’s not it!” Teak squeaked, “I do want to be friends! I was just wondering since Argus is so far away!”  
  
“You want me to go far away!?” Lima cried, trying not to laugh. “Teak!?”  
  
“No!” Teak cried overwhelmed, “I-I just-”  
  
“Will you two stop making so much noise!” The white-haired girl from earlier hissed from behind him. “People are trying to sleep-”  
  
“Teak!” Lima cried in shock, “Look! They let an old woman in! What is Beacon thinking?!”  
  
“L-Lima,” Teak said weakly, “That’s not-”  
  
“Old woman!?” The girl squawked, “I’m seventeen!”  
  
Teak looked like he wanted the floor to rise up and consume him.  
  
“Liar!” Lima said immediately, doubling down. “Your hair’s all gray! How’d you hide your wrinkles, you old crone!”  
  
“What is going on here!” Professor Goodwitch exclaimed, striding towards them.  
  
“Professor!” The white-haired girl said, surprised.  
  
“Bestwitch!” Lima cried, “I’m glad you’re here, this old lady somehow managed to sneak into Beacon! We’ve got to do something about this; I think she’s using her semblance to hide her wrinkles, don’t let it fool you though, look at her hair!”  
  
“You!” The white hair girl squeaked angrily, unable to bring herself to even.  
  
“What did you just call me?!” Professor Goodwitch said incredulously.  
  
“Sorry, Excellentwitch,” Lima said sheepishly, “Did I get your name wrong?”  
  
Teak groaned into his hands, looking like nothing more than a tomato.  
  
“Goodwitch.” Professor Goodwitch said archly, “Now, why are you all yelling?”  
  
“This boy-” The white-haired girl hissed.  
  
“Lima-” Teak squeaked nervously.  
  
“Me!” Lima cried triumphantly.  
  
“Enough.” Goodwitch said dryly, “Just keep it down. If I have to come over here again, the three of you will be sleeping outside.”  
  
The three of them remained silent as she turned on her heel and strode away.  
  
“Idiot!” The white-haired girl muttered, “We haven’t even taken the exam yet, and you’ve already antagonized an instructor.”  
  
“Yeah? Well, you know what?” Lima said, grinning, “Teak! Tell her.”  
  
“W-what?” Teak said nervously, “I don’t know what you want me to say.”  
  
“You heard him, old nanner; and let that be a lesson to you,” Lima said firmly.  
  
“He didn’t say anything!” The girl hissed quietly, at the same time as Teak groaned, “But I didn’t say anything?”  
  
“And I’m not old.” The girl growled. “Do you know who I am?”  
  
“Why would I know who some random girl from Vale is?” Lima asked incredulously. “Have you seen how big this place is?”  
  
“U-um, we saw her earlier, remember?” Teak mumbled, “Lima, that’s Weiss Schnee..”  
  
Lima waited for the boy to explain why he should know the name, but he just looked increasingly awkward. Weiss was giving Teak the side-eye as well, which might have contributed to his sudden refusal to speak up.  
  
“Never heard of her,” Lima said honestly.  
  
Weiss scrunched her face up.  
  
“It doesn’t matter,” Weiss snapped, “Just-just keep it down.”  
  
“What are you, Magnificentwitch’s echo?” Lima said, amused.  
  
“Ugh!” Weiss huffed before she stormed off red-faced.  
  
“Lima…” Teak pleaded. “Everyone is going to hate us!”  
  
“Don’t be ridiculous, Oak,” Lima said easily, dropping down to lay on his sleeping bag. “We haven’t met everyone yet.”  
  
Teak looked more worried than reassured but sat down on his own sleeping bag.  
  
“I was the one being a dickhead.” Lima said curiously as he threaded his hands behind his head. “Why was she giving you the evil eye?”  
  
Teak hugged his knees to his chest and hesitated for a moment.  
  
“Probably because I’m a Faunus,” Teak said quietly, “Have you heard of the White Fang?”  
  
“Fighting the good fight against tooth decay?” Lima joked, “I’ve seen the name before, a group of Faunus who used to be all about the peaceful protests for equality, but have recently dropped the peaceful descriptor?”  
  
“Yeah, they have a bad history with the SDC,” Teak mumbled, “So I can understand why she doesn’t like me.”  
  
“What’s she got to do with the-Oh!” Lima blinked. “Schnee Dust Company, I’m an idiot.”  
  
Teak just nodded.  
  
“Why would she just assume you’re a part of the White Fang?” Lima asked strangely.  
  
“Because I’m a Faunus?” Teak said, confused.  
  
Lima rolled his eyes at the guy.  
  
“Obviously you’re a Faunus, I could tell by the ears,” Lima rolled his eyes, “The White Fang is what, a few thousand Faunus at most? There have to be millions of Faunus in Vale. Does she give every Faunus she comes across the evil eye of White Fang Detection?”  
  
“Well, I don’t think its that simple,” Teak said slowly, “I know that humans have treated my kind badly in the past, my grandparents lived through some of the really bad stuff, and my father…I know that when I meet a human, I’m always wary at first, I know it's not really fair it’s just…”  
  
Lima held up a hand.  
  
“No, you’re right, I get it; You’ve been told all your life about the things that could happen to you-the, things that did happen to the Faunus, so it colors your perception-rightfully so in this case.” Lima nodded, “That makes perfect sense to me, but you shouldn’t-sorry-I personally believe that you should treat people as individuals first, judge them by the things they do, not by the stereotypes of some category you think they belong to, you know?”  
  
“I agree,” Teak smiled, but kept his eyes on the ground. “I know that I have biases about humans, so I try to keep them in mind when things like this happen; that’s why I don’t really blame Weiss for being suspicious, I can follow the chain of thought she used to arrive there.”  
  
“Yeah,” Lima nodded, “Doesn’t mean she gets to glare at you for looking a little bit different; if you can empathize with someone to that extent, there's no reason she wouldn’t be capable of the same thing.”  
  
“I suppose it just means she's never needed to confront it,” Teak admitted. “Circumstance and your immediate environment does a lot to shape you as a person, as well as the people that you interact with most, even if it's sometimes hard to see just how much.”  
  
Lima stared up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling; it glittered in the darkened room. He thought about how he used to be before Sage had saved him. Alone, angry, and hateful. He’d grown a lot since then, but he knew he still had a long way to go.  
  
That was something Sage had taught him, and he took it to heart.  
  
There was always more to learn, you could always be better, and no matter the opposition you faced, as long as you kept on moving forward, eventually you’d find the next foothold.  
  
“Yeah,” Lima agreed, “Besides, this is just the beginning, Teak, we’ve all got room to grow.”  
  
“You’re a lot more thoughtful than I thought you were,” Teak admitted. “Especially after, well pretty much the entire day.”  
  
“Want to know a secret?” Lima laughed quietly.  
  
Teak watched him quietly before nodding fractionally in the dark.  
  
“I’m not immune to the pressure of everything, despite the brave face I put up.” Lima said honestly, “When I’m uncomfortable, scared, or just upset, I tend to up the ante, call it a bad habit, or a defense mechanism.”  
  
“Ah..” Teak said quietly, “You seem so confident, though; I wish I could be like that.”  
  
“Comparing yourself to others is the real mind-killer; besides, confidence isn’t real,” Lima laughed to himself. “Most people who seem confident have just as little idea at what they are doing as the rest of us, but if you pretend like you’ve got it all under control, well the impression of confidence really does tend to become it.”  
  
“I’ve heard that saying before,” Teak said quietly, “Fake it until you make it, right?”  
  
Lima just nodded.  
  
“You know what I think the real problem with comparing yourself to everyone around you? In my experience at least,” Limma said thoughtfully, “It's not that you don’t think you’re good enough, or that you don’t have what it takes to do what they can; I think the real problem is when you start to model everyone around you as perfect people-no, perfect actors.”  
  
Teak had laid down on his side now and was watching him quietly.  
  
“Define perfect actors,” Teak said curiously.  
  
Lima tried to put into words what had mostly been something he had believed but never really examined in depth.  
  
“You said I seem so confident, but what you were really thinking was, ‘Lima exists in that confident state at all times.’ Or ‘Lima is never not confident.’” Lima said slowly, “Your mental model of me, it was of a person who is always confident; but that’s not how people work, Teak. I’m not the embodiment of the trait ‘confidence,’ I’m just a person who is sometimes confident.”  
  
They were quiet for a moment, and the murmurs of the others nearby continued uninterrupted.  
  
“I think I understand,” Teak said quietly, “You are saying that I’m comparing myself to an idealized form of you. I want to be ‘Lima, the person who is always confident,’ instead of ‘Lima, a person who is capable of being confident.’”  
  
“That’s it, more or less,” Lima nodded, “Now scale that idea out to every single person you compare yourself to, a network of thousands of people who you subconsciously view as an idealized form of their most prominent trait. How could you ever be good enough, Teak? There's a person who is better at that thing you’re thinking of right now in every direction you look, you’ve lost the competition before it's even begun.”  
  
“That makes a scary amount of sense to me.” Teak said quietly, “It’s almost like a blind spot. Nobody is going to reveal that they aren’t perfect either, so you only ever see the victories, at least when it's controllable.”  
  
Lima nodded in agreement.  
  
“So, the secret is pretty easy once you figure it out,” Lima stage whispered, “Want to know what it is?”  
  
“Yes,” Teak admitted.  
  
“Everyone around you is someone who is just trying to keep their head above the water,” Lima said easily. “Just like you and me, they’re just better at hiding it.”


	5. Obstacles

Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.  
Ballroom, Beacon.  
8:52 AM.  
  
Lima dragged himself out of his sleeping bag, fighting the desire to go back to sleep as best he could.  
  
Teak’s worried voice helped a bit.  
  
“Oh god, we're going to be late!” Teak said nervously, “Lima!”  
  
“Okay, okay.” Lima whined, “I’m up.”  
  
“We missed breakfast!” Teak squeaked, looking around at the mostly empty room. “and-”  
  
The PA System crackled to life, interrupting him.  
  
“Will all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for Initiation.” Glynda Goodwitch said over the speakers, “Again, will all Beacon first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff immediately.”  
  
“Alright, let's go grab our stuff out of the lockers then,” Lima said sleepily, “There is plenty of time, man, relax.”  
  
“We have less than five minutes!” Teak cried.  
  
Lima yawned.

* * *

  
Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.  
Beacon Cliff, Beacon.  
9:00 AM.  
  
Lima strode towards where the other first-years were lined up on a series of square grey platforms, the Academy’s insignia was carved into the face of each.  
  
Ozpin caught sight of them before Glynda did, and Teak immediately cracked.  
  
“Sorry, sir!” Teak squeaked. “We-”  
  
Lima placed his hand on the shorter boy's shoulder.  
  
“Morning, Sir,” Lima said easily, “It took a bit longer than I expected to put my face on; we aren’t late, are we?”  
  
“You’re cutting it a bit close,” Ozpin said, amused. “Not to worry, please line up on the platforms.”  
  
Goodwitch looked over at the comment and frowned at them but didn’t say anything. Weiss gave them the evil eye when they wandered past. There were more platforms on the cliff than students, which was curious. There had been a lot of first-years in the ballroom last night, he hadn’t gotten a full count, but there might have been a couple missing.  
  
Early drop-outs? It didn’t matter, either way, Lima planted his feet on the platform, bouncing on the balls of his feet to see if it had any give, but it didn’t move an inch. Were they elevator platforms? Or perhaps they had a cut of gravity dust beneath them, and they would float down to the base of the cliff.  
  
Ozpin and Glynda spoke quietly for a few more moments before they both turned to face the line of students.  
  
“Good morning,” Ozpin said simply, before clearing his throat. “For years, you have trained to become warriors, Hunters. Today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest.”  
  
Glynda nodded before speaking.  
  
“Now, I'm sure that many of you have been hearing rumors, from family members or friends, about the formation and assignment of teams.” Glynda said pleasantly, “Well, allow us to put an end to your curiosity; Each of you will indeed be given teammates today.”  
  
Ozpin spoke up once she had finished; they had clearly rehearsed this.  
  
“The teams that you form today, and the individual teammates will remain with you throughout your entire stay at Beacon.” Ozpin said solemnly, “Thus, I am sure that you all realize that it is in your best interest to be paired with someone who you can work well with, someone who you can place your trust in.”  
  
Ozpin paused for a moment.  
  
“With that being said.” Ozpin said wryly, “The first person that you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years.”  
  
There was a wave of alarm from the other students as they digested the news; the short girl in the red cloak looked particularly overwhelmed.  
  
“After you have found your partner,” Ozpin continued easily over the muttering, “Make your way to the Northern end of the forest, but beware, you will encounter opposition along the way.”  
  
Ozpin gave them all a searching look, and Lima wondered what the man was thinking.  
  
“Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path,” Ozpin said seriously, “Or you will die.”  
  
Lima grinned, a forest filled with enemies that could only be Grimm. Destroying everything in his path was something he could get behind. It had been a stressful few days leading up to this mysterious test, but it was looking like it was definitely something he could handle.  
  
“You will be monitored throughout your journey through the forest, and graded based on your showing,” Ozpin said calmly, “Keep in mind that our instructors will not intervene under any circumstances.”  
  
No saves from the teachers, huh? That was pretty ruthless.  
  
“You will find an abandoned temple at the North end of the forest, containing several relics,” Ozpin continued, “Each partnered pair must select a single relic to represent them, and then return to top of the cliff; That is your objective.”  
  
Head North, kill Grimm, grab a relic, kill more Grimm, kill more Grimm, return to the top of the cliff; Certainly seemed straight forward enough. Glynda took a moment to give them a piece of advice of her own.  
  
“Losing the relic will mean failure, so take care of it,” Glynda warned them, “We will be taking the chosen relics into consideration along with your actions within the forest during the grading phase.”  
  
Ozpin nodded at the comment.  
  
“Very well, are there any questions?” Ozpin said with finality.  
  
Lima turned his head to observe Jaune as he called out from his place on the first platform.  
  
“Yeah.” Jaune said hesitantly, “Sir? I have a question-”  
  
“Good!” Ozpin said cheerfully, completely ignoring the guy. “Now, go ahead and take your places on the platforms.”  
  
Lima lowered his stance on the platform, getting ready just to jump off the cliff to get a head start in the forest. The platform dropped an inch and then flung up, sending him up into the air and straight over the cliff.  
  
He started laughing; they weren’t elevators, after all; they were launch pads.  
  
Beacon was awesome.  
  
Teak’s terrified shout caught his attention a moment later, and he twisted in the air until he was falling backward. Teak’s arc was a bit higher than his own and angled slightly away from him, so he adjusted his own path with his semblance until he was back on an intercept course for his friend.  
  
Teak caught sight of him barely a moment before he collided with him, and he hooked a hand around the guy's back and slowed their fall until they dipped beneath the tree line.  
  
“Thank you.” Teak said, relieved, “I thought I was going to die.”  
  
They touched down lightly on the grass, and he let the short boy go. The trees were pretty tall here, and some of the trunks were thicker around, then he was tall. Lots of shadows and leafy camouflage from the smaller, more densely packed bushes.  
  
“No worries,” Lima said cheerfully, flipping the folded up bow into the air a few times. “Have you learned how to use your Aura defensively yet?”  
  
“The instructors that awakened our Aura showed us how. I’m not at the point where I can do it unconsciously yet.” Teak said embarrassedly.  
  
Teak followed his example and quickly expanded his sword.  
  
“It becomes second nature after a while, just keep it up as often as you can to speed it along,” Lima said idly, before blinking. “Hey! We're partners now, and you thought you were finally getting rid of me.”  
  
Lima started North along one of the more open areas in the trees, and Teak followed.  
  
“I wasn’t trying to get rid of you at all.” Teak said honestly, “You’re the only person I really know anyway.”  
  
Lima tilted his hand back and forth a few times.  
  
“You know Pawpaw and Jaune.” Lima pointed out easily.  
  
Teak shook his head at the nickname.  
  
“I’ve only spoken to them once.” Teak said nervously, looking down under one of the nearest bushes. “There's a snake.”  
  
Lima waved it off.  
  
“You met me yesterday, so it’s not like we know each other that much better.” Lima grinned back at him for a moment. “Hah, you could have ended up on Weiss’s team, imagine that.”  
  
Teak pouted at him.  
  
“That’s not funny,” Teak complained, before freezing in place. “Lima, what’s that feeling-it’s like somethings watching us?”  
  
Lima raised an eyebrow at him; he must be pretty receptive to his Aura if he was already picking up on the hostile intent of nearby Grimm.  
  
“There's a Grimm nearby, not sure what yet,” Lima said easily, pointing off to his left. “Over there somewhere.”  
  
Teak stumbled to catch up to him as he kept on walking.  
  
“You don’t sound very worried,” Teak said hesitantly, eyeing the direction he had pointed.  
  
“I’m not, I've been killing these things since I was, uh-” Lima tilted his head in thought, before waving his hand. “Seven? Something like that, it’s been a while anyway.”  
  
“Seven?” Teak asked, concerned, “You had to have had you’re Aura back then-”  
  
Teak swung around to face where the small Grimm was emerging from between two large trees. He held his sword up nervously, but the Beowolf gave it no mind as it leaped at him. Teak swung out at it desperately, and his longsword lodged in its upper shoulder, pinning it to the ground.  
  
“Nice, pull your sword out,” Lima said cheerfully and stomped on it’s back, holding it down. “Lima’s Life Lesson: The bone plates that cover most Grimm are quite durable; thus, its best to aim for the places that aren’t covered in armor, like the neck, or the limbs.”  
  
Teak looked terrified as he yanked his sword out of the Beowolf and took a hasty step back as it clawed desperately at him from beneath Lima’s unmoving foot.  
  
“Go on then, give it the pointy end,” Lima said easily, gesturing at its neck.  
  
Teak circled around it until he was almost behind it, and he brought his sword up. Teak looked at him for a moment, almost as if to ask for permission, before he chopped it’s head off. The Beowolf stopped struggling and started evaporating a moment later.  
  
Lima clapped his hands once, and Teak jumped at the sudden noise.  
  
“Congratulations! You’ve killed your first Grimm!” Lima wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and sniffled. “I’m so proud of you, baby boy!”  
  
“Stooop.” Teak pleaded, still eyeing the decaying Grimm. “The Beowolf, it was um-weaker than I expected?”  
  
“That was a young one; it leaped straight at you, didn’t even try to flank, despite the weapon.” Lima said easily, “They get a lot smarter than that, start to group up with others, and can get a lot bigger as well.”  
  
Teak listened intently, and Lima felt a bit awkward that the guy was looking at him like he was an instructor or something.  
  
“Anyway!” Lima said gleefully, striding northward once more. “Let's go find some more!”  
  
Teak fell in step beside him, they fell in a small silence for a while, with only the sound of twigs snapping beneath them until several minutes later, Teak spoke up.  
  
“Why did you want me to kill it?” Teak asked quietly.  
  
Lima hummed for a moment.  
  
“Well,” Lima said thoughtfully, “We are getting graded based on what we do here in the forest, who knows what the metrics they use to decide that, but we can probably weight it in our favor if we stick to the good old combination of teamwork, willingness to learn and making good choices, right? Besides, if I just killed everything we came across, you wouldn’t get a chance to show off.”  
  
Teak met his eyes for a moment before looking away.  
  
“Because we are now partners, if I fail, we both fail.” Teak said weakly, “I don’t want to be the reason you fail, Lima.”  
  
“Then, there's your motivation to kill this Beowolf.” Lima said cheerfully, “I’ll pin its leg, flank it; right side.”  
  
Lima expanded his bow and dashed to the left as the Beowolf cleared the trees, aimed for where he was just standing. He dragged his bow around and fired the spike straight through its front leg, staking it to the ground.  
  
Teak was already following his directions, sword raised as he came in from the right flank. The Beowolf howled in anger as it struggled to rip its leg free, but its call was cut short as Teaks sword decapitated it a moment later.  
  
“Nice one,” Lima said happily. “That was a lot cleaner than the first one; you learn pretty fast, man.”  
  
The Grimm started disintegrating between the two, and Teak watched it for a moment before looking over at him.  
  
“Thanks,” Teak said sheepishly, “It would have been a lot harder if you hadn’t pinned it.”  
  
Lima waved him off again.  
  
“Give yourself some credit,” Lima said, amused, “Lima’s Life Lesson: Fighting is just finding the best opportunity to do the most damage to the opponent while taking the least amount in return. You’re strong enough to kill a Grimm of that size with a well-placed swing, just keep an eye out for those moments, and you’ll be fine.”  
  
Teak nodded firmly.  
  
“I will,” Teak said seriously, before hesitating. “L-lets go find some more?”  
  
Lima grinned at him.  
  
“We are getting married, Teak,” Lima said cheerfully, “We will have a horde of little Teak-Lima hybrids and train them all up into Grimm killing machines, it will be swell.”  
  
“Swell isn’t really the word I’d use when describing an army of little Grimm killing machines.” Teak squeaked out, faintly red.  
  
“You’re right,” Lima said seriously before nodded firmly. “I misspoke; What I meant to say was that it would be wholesome.”  
  
“That’s even worse!” Teak cried.  
  


* * *

  
“Is that smoke?” Teak asked, sniffing the air, “Did someone start a fire?”  
  
Through a gap in the leaves, a thick column of smoke could be seen to the north-east.  
  
“It is,” Lima said thoughtfully, “We should probably get a move on if we don’t want to get caught if it spreads.”  
  
The feeling of being watched was slowly creeping up on them both once more, and Teak fell silent.  
  
“You want to take the lead on this one?” Lima suggested, “Toss me some directions, bossman.”  
  
“U-um, okay.” Teak said nervously after a moment. “I’ll distract it this time, and you kill it from the side?”  
  
“Yes, sir!” Lima saluted.  
  
“Stooop,” Teak complained but moved closer to the treeline.  
  
The Beowolf lunged out of the bushes and headed for the closest target, Teak. The Faunus managed to block its swiping claw attack, and Lima circled around to its side in an instant. He lifted his bow and put a spike straight through its head a moment later. The spike lodged into a tree on the other side of the clearing, and the Beowolf dropped to the forest floor dead.  
  
“Wow, it went straight through the bone plating.” Teak said, surprised.  
  
Teak stepped back from the vanishing monster and looked over at where the arrow had struck. Lima used his Aura to manipulate the cut of gravity dust in the quiver, and the strip along the bottom of the spike lit up purple. The spike spun through the air; when it came into his range, he caught it out of the air and resheathed it in the quiver.  
  
“Good planning on the fly there; you’re getting better even time.” Lima said easily, “You don’t really seem like the tanking type though, so drawing its attention and then evading, instead of locking it into a power struggle, is probably a safer bet next time.”  
  
“Yeah,” Teak agreed immediately, “It was a lot stronger than I thought it was, and I’m not really good at the Aura thing yet.”  
  
“It’ll come in time, don’t worry,” Lima said cheerfully. “This smoke is starting to get annoying, lets up the pace a bit; see if we can’t circle wide of the worst of it.”  
  
“Okay.” Teak said happily.  
  
They took off through the trees, angling more Northwest to get around the worst of the smoke, before striking back out to the east, and eventually, they started to come across numerous stones that had clearly been shaped for building. None of the structures were intact, though, and they littered the forest in small pockets.  
  
“This was a settlement of some kind, a long time ago,” Teak said quietly, “It must have been abandoned for thousands of years.”  
  
“Really,” Lima said curiously, “Must have been a pretty big place, there are even pillars all the way over there, past the clearing.”  
  
“If we pass the test, I’ll look it up later,” Teak said easily, “I like this kind of thing.”  
  
“History guy, huh?” Lima said pleasantly, “That’s pretty cool, I’m a fan of myths and heroes, the great warriors of each age have some pretty awesome tales.”  
  
“It’s a shame so much of it was lost in the war,” Teak sighed, “It’s all just guesswork and attempts at recreation now, well that’s what it seems like at least. Being able to see old places like this, though...”  
  
“Finally decided that being a Huntsman is pretty cool after all? They grow up so fast.” Lima teased, holding his hand up to the guy's normal height. “Why I still remember when you were this big!”  
  
Teak huffed before smiling.  
  
“Come on then, mother,” Teak said snootily, striding off. “We have a relic to find; we can’t spend all day pottering about in the woods.”  
  
“Oi!” Lima said, offended, “I’m the funny one in this partnership, get your own schtick.”  
  
“Yes, yes, mother, we’ll get some on the way home.” Teak said distractedly. “Don’t dawdle now, or we’ll be late.  
  
Lima pouted.  
  


* * *

  
They stumbled upon the relics sometime after, most of which were already gone.  
  
“Guess we were a bit late, huh?” Lima said cheerfully.  
  
“It's because you wanted to stop and kill every Grimm in the forest.” Teak complained, “My arm hurts in a way I've never felt before.”  
  
“Swinging that sword around,” Lima snickered. “It’ll get easier.”  
  
The relics turned out to be a series of black and white chess pieces, all lined up on stone pedestals. Someone had already taken both of the Kings, the absolute bastards, how dare they.  
  
Lima pouted.  
  
Teak watched him hesitantly, wondering what was wrong.  
  
“Lima?” Teak asked worriedly.  
  
Lima snatched the Black Queen off the pedestal, spinning to stare at Teak.  
  
“Fine, if I can’t have a king,” Lima declared solemnly, before shouting at the top of his lungs. “Instead, we will have a Black Queen! Beautiful and terrible as the dawn! Tempestuous as the sea, and stronger than the foundations of the earth! All shall love us and despair!”  
  
“U-um.” Teak said, bemused, “I don’t think that’s quite how it went in the movie.”  
  
Lima was too busy cackling to himself to hear him.


	6. Colors

Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.  
Beacon Cliff, Beacon.  
1:39 PM.  
  
“How do we get back up?” Teak said hesitantly, staring straight up.  
  
Lima considered the problem for exactly two seconds before he nodded. He stepped towards the short Faunus and grabbed him around the legs, lifting him into a fireman’s carry over his shoulder.  
  
“Hey!” Teak squawked, “What are you going to-oh my god.”  
  
Lima walked up the side of the cliff, humming his ringtone. Teak remained frozen as the ground got further and further away with each passing second.  
  
“Save time, and tell me, listen!” Lima cried, “I’m falling, I’m falling, I’m falling!”  
  
“ _Stoooop_.” Teak moaned, “I’m going to die. I’m going to die. I’m going to die.”  
  
“You know, I’m ready for this!” Lima continued unabated, “I’m falling, I’m falling, I’m falling!”  
  
Eventually, they reached the top of the cliff, and Lima stepped back onto the normal horizontal plane. He planted Teak's feet back on the ground and stood back up again. The Faunus was looking distinctly pale.  
  
Lima looked around for a moment before frowning.  
  
“There's nobody here,” Lima stated, confused. “Are we the first ones back?”  
  
“That would be impossible, Mr. Morta,” Glynda said dryly, as she appeared from the pathway back to Beacon. “Given that you spent several hours hunting Grimm before you bothered to complete the objective.”  
  
“Huh,” Lima said sheepishly, “Guess I kind of lost track of time in there, time passes quickly when you’re having fun and all that jazz.”  
  
“Yes, well, at least Mr. Fawn here eventually got you back on track,” Glynd sighed, “Come along then, the grading phase is currently underway, and I’d like to get back to that sometime soon.”  
  
Teak squeaked at his name, mumbling an apology that nobody could understand.  
  
“You heard Ms. Greatwitch, stop being such a time waster Teak!” Lima said cheerfully, following the woman as she headed back towards the academy. “Don’t you know we have a schedule to keep?”  
  
“ _Good_ witch,” Glynda said dryly.  
  
“Sorry about that,” Lima said happily. “So, are you going to give us top marks for clearing out the forest? Teak definitely did most of the legwork; that’s why it took so long because he’s so short.”  
  
“ _Lima._ ” Teak groaned embarrassedly. “You can’t just ask.”  
  
“It will be taken into consideration,” Glynda said simply.  
  
“Excuse me, Miss?” Teak asked curiously, “Was the fire a part of the test? And should we have attempted to put it out before leaving?”  
  
“It wasn’t a part of the test; another student caused it,” Glynda said, bemused, glancing over at him. “We have already sent several people to handle the situation, so put it out of your mind.”  
  
“Oh, that’s good.” Teak said happily. “Despite all the Grimm, there were a lot of animals as well; it would have been a shame if they all lost their homes so needlessly.”  
  
“Empathy is a good trait,” Glynda said seriously, “You would do well to keep it in check in the future, however.”  
  
Lima tilted his head at the comment, wondering what she meant.  
  
“If I had to choose between saving a person or saving the forest, I would save the person every time,” Teak admitted quietly, “But when the stakes aren’t that high, I wouldn’t let something be destroyed if I didn’t have to.”  
  
Glynda glanced down at the short boy and smiled.  
  
“You have the mentality of a Huntsman,” Glynda said pleasantly. “Should you hone your physical skills, you will go far, Mr. Fawn.”  
  
“U-um, thank you, miss.” Teak said embarrassedly.  
  
Lima grinned at him.  
  
“Praise me too!” Lima cried, “Tell me I’m a good boy!”  
  
Glynda gave a startled laugh.  
  
“Your combat skills are impressive, Mr. Morta,” Glynda said, amused, “You have a clear case of tunnel vision when it comes to Grimm; You would do well to listen to your partner when in the field.”  
  
“Not quite a ‘good boy,’” Lima laughed, “But it's solid advice. Teak, you better keep me in line; Teachers orders.”  
  
“I’ll try,” Teak promised.  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.  
Ballroom, Beacon.  
2:10 PM.  
  
Glynda had ditched them once they had arrived back at the academy, so they dropped their equipment off at the locker room and hit the showers. Then they headed back to the Ballroom where the rest of their stuff was.  
  
“So we have; almost another three hours until they kick us out of Beacon for being the greatest hunting duo the world has ever seen,” Lima said cheerfully, “What do you want to do until then?”  
  
“Miss Goodwitch said that we should head back here,” Teak said hesitantly, “We probably shouldn’t leave until then; everyone else is here after all.”  
  
Well, he was right; the room was once again filled with students, although there were less of them, than there had been this morning. Most everybody was standing in pairs, although there were a bunch of larger groups around.  
  
“Hey, look who it is.” Teak said happily.  
  
Lima turned around to see where he was looking and grinned. Pyrrha and Jaune both spotted them a moment afterward, so they headed over two where the two were standing next to a larger group.  
  
“Hello, Lima, Teak,” Pyrrha said, smiling, as they came to stand beside them.  
  
“Pawpaw and J-man the dynamic pair,” Lima said lyrically. “Seen J-man falling through the air, what a tragic affair, but luckily Pawpaw was there, she answered his prayer, with a well-thrown spear only _missed_ by a hair.”  
  
“Please stop.” Pyrrha laughed, “Teak help.”  
  
“I’ve been dealing with him all day; it's your turn, please.” Teak pleaded.  
  
“Did everybody see that?” Jaune groaned.  
  
“I saw it!” A girl with bright orange hair said, grinning. “I almost joined in.”  
  
“Nora,” A boy with long black hair said calmly, “I don’t think a hammer would have worked the same.”  
  
“Ren!” Nora cried happily, “It would have worked _better_.”  
  
“Debateable,” Jaune said weakly as his fears were confirmed.  
  
Lima grinned at the byplay; they seemed like a fun pair.  
  
“I’m Lima, that’s Birch,” Lima introduced, pointing at Teak.  
  
“Nora!” Nora said happily.  
  
“I am Ren; it is nice to meet you both,” Ren said calmly.  
  
Teak looked at Pyrrha sadly, and the girl came to his defense.  
  
“His name is Teak, not Birch,” Pyrrha interjected, “Lima just likes giving people strange nicknames.”  
  
Lima humphed at the dissemination of his greatest secret; he would have vengeance. Pyrrha took a step back at his squinty look.  
  
“Alright, I think it’s _that_ time, Nora,” Lima said seriously. “Time for _the game_.”  
  
“Absolutely,” Nora said immediately, having no idea what the game was. “We should explain the rules of _the game_ to everyone who doesn’t know about _the game_.”  
  
“You have no idea what _the game_ is either,” Ren said plainly.  
  
Nora gave him a superior look, the one which you would give someone who didn’t know about _the game_.  
  
“The rules are simple,” Lima said solemnly. “We go around in a circle and expose the most embarrassing secrets we know of everyone around us.”  
  
Jaune immediately crossed his arms in the air.  
  
“Objection!” Jaune said urgently, “I want no part of _the game_!”  
  
“Jaune got airsick on the ride over and vomited all over a girl's shoes,” Lima said, grinning.  
  
Jaune deflated like a popped balloon; _the game_ had taken its first victim.  
  
“That was you!” Nora giggled, “We heard about that last night.”  
  
Ren simply nodded, smiling slightly.  
  
“Those were my shoes!” A girl with blonde hair said from nearby.  
  
The blonde girl joined their little gathering confidently, and three other girls followed her. The short red-cloaked one whose name he didn’t know yet, Weiss and another girl who had black hair and yellow eyes.  
  
“A first-hand account, damning evidence to be sure.” Lima said solemnly, “You heard the rules miss eavesdropper, who’s next?”  
  
“Ruby accidentally exploded, Weiss.” Yang threw the shorter girl under the bus immediately.  
  
Weiss huffed at the reminder.  
  
“Yang!” Ruby cried piteously. “How can my sister be so cruel?!”  
  
“That was this morning.” Pyrrha said, amused, “Most of us witnessed that happening in fact.”  
  
Ruby sagged to the floor in embarrassment, clinging to her sister's leg.  
  
“That was when J-man chances with Weiss exploded as well.” Lima grinned.  
  
“Dude!” Jaune said, pained, joining Ruby on the floor in defeat.  
  
“I can vouch for that happening,” Weiss said imperiously.  
  
“Nora once got her tongue stuck to the handle of her hammer after an accident with Ice Dust,” Ren said evenly, poker face firmly intact.  
  
“Ren!” Nora cried red-face, sinking to her knees. “You said you’d never tell anyone!”  
  
“A critical hit by Ren,” Teak said, giggling.  
  
“Noooooo!” Nora moaned piteously on the floor.  
  
Two more people joined the group, the blonde girl with the black scales on her temple as well as yellow eyes and a shorter, silver-haired girl with green eyes, a much darker shade than his own.  
  
“Welcome to _the game_ ,” Yang said cheerfully, “Claire, right? I remember you from Signal.”  
  
The shorter silver-haired girl smiled brightly.  
  
“That’s me!” Claire said brightly, “I remember you too, Yang, right?”  
  
“Yep,” Yang said easily, “Who’s your friend?”  
  
The blonde girl with the scales grinned at her.  
  
“Lux,” Lux said confidently, “What are the rules to, _the game_?”  
  
There was a quick round of introductions, and he discovered the unnamed black-haired girl to be called Blake. They went over the rules again quickly, of which there were basically none.  
  
“We’ve had some eliminations early in _the game_ ,” Lima commented, “Me, Pyrrha, Blake, Weiss, Ren, Teak, Yang, Claire, Lux, remain in this tense stand-off who will be the next to fall?”  
  
“Yang once beat up a boy back at Signal because he didn’t want to go out with her,” Claire said immediately. “He didn’t like her hair.”  
  
Yang clutched at her chest in horror.  
  
“How do you know that!?” Yang cried, sinking to her knees.  
  
Claire just laughed.  
  
“Lima told me last night that he has an entire folder dedicated to rule34 of famous Faunus on his scroll.” Teak said hesitantly.  
  
Lima sank to his knees, shocked, and Teak giggled at the overplayed reaction.  
  
“I told you that in confidence!” Lima cried, “Do our years of friendship mean nothing to you?”  
  
“We only met yesterday,” Teak explained to the rest of them.  
  
Blake was giving him the squinty eye for some reason. Lux, the only Faunus present other than Teak, was just laughing her ass off at his destruction. The stand-off with those who were left continued for a minute, as none of them knew each other well enough.  
  
“Lima, our generous host, will be moving _the game_ onto its final round,” Lima said cheerfully from the floor. “Each of you, in alphabetical order, will take a turn revealing something embarrassing about yourselves to the group; if you try to skimp out with something lame, you will face the wrath of the defeated.”  
  
Yang started up a chant of Blake's name as she was the first on the sacrificial altar. The rest joined in a moment later.  
  
“Uh,” Blake said quietly, “I like to read the ‘Ninja’s of love’ books.”  
  
“Those books are adult only!” Ruby cried accusingly.  
  
“They are good, though,” Blake mumbled as she sat down, red-faced but relatively unscathed.  
  
“Claire, you’re up next,” Lima prompted, “What's you’re most embarrassing secret!”  
  
“I’m not telling you that one, but,” Claire said faintly red, “I was so nervous on my first day at Signal that I called a teacher Dad.”  
  
“Oh my god, I remember dad telling me about that!” Yang said, amazed, “Taiyang Xiao Long is our dad!”  
  
Claire looked even more embarrassed as she sunk down to join them on the floor. Lima snickered, and Teak nudged him with his foot.  
  
“Oh! Lux is next.” Lima said quickly.  
  
“At the Vale Airship Terminal, I was sitting in one of the café’s,” Lux said slowly, cheeks faintly red. “A man at the counter turned around and asked ‘Does anyone want a coffee, I’ve got $5 left on the card!’”  
  
“You didn’t,” Lima said, staring up at her in horror; something very similar had happened to him once with ice cream in the park.  
  
Her cheeks darkened at the comment, and the others murmured, confused.  
  
“I stood up and said I’d have one,” Lux said embarrassedly, covering her face with her hand. “It turned out he was talking to his family at the table behind mine…”  
  
“Ugh,” Lima scrunched his face up, completely overwhelmed by the cringe.  
  
He’d buried that dark ice cream day deep in his subconscious, who would have thought that it would resurface so readily.  
  
“Oh god,” Pyrrha laughed.  
  
Nora was giggling, and Blake looked pretty amused as well. Lux laughed at her own embarrassment and sat down.  
  
“Pyrrha, you’re up,” Lima said, still trying to shake it off.  
  
“Back at Argus, I was pretty well known,” Pyrrha said cagily, “and a man came up to me and asked me to sign something for him. I asked him who to make it out to…but it was the sign-off sheet for a package.”  
  
Lima snickered at her, and she narrowed her eyes at him as she sat down, cheeks red.  
  
“You thought he was asking for an autograph,” Weiss laughed, “I did the same thing once, but it was to one of the handymen working on a renovation I didn’t know about at the time.”  
  
“Ren!” Nora cackled, “It's time for revenge!”  
  
Ren glanced around for a moment before sighing.  
  
“I honestly can’t think of anything-” Ren said thoughtfully.  
  
“I walked in on you once!” Nora cackled. “But I left before you noticed me!”  
  
“What does that mean?” Ren asked, horrified. “Walked in on me doing _what_.”  
  
Lima started laughing his ass off, and Ren glanced at him worriedly.  
  
“Polishing your weapon?” Lima snickered, “Squeezing your hog?”  
  
“Swinging your hammer!” Nora descended into giggles.  
  
“No.” Ren managed, completely red-faced, but he also sat down.  
  
Lima started laughing all over again, setting off a few of the others.  
  
“That’s pretty funny.” Lima said after he recovered, “Alright, only two of our heroes remain, will any survive the gauntlet?”  
  
Teak swallowed and spoke up.  
  
“When I was a kid, I spent the first week at school being lumped in with all the girls,” Teak said embarrassedly, “I didn’t realize it at the time, I wasn’t very self-aware back then, but the teacher thought I was a girl until my mom talked to her.”  
  
There were some light laughter and general amusement at the story.  
  
“Cause of the whole androgynous thing you have going on?” Yang asked curiously.  
  
“Yeah,” Teak said, ducking his head. “I got picked on a bit when I was younger for it.”  
  
“Lima’s Life Lesson: Kids are all shits, every single one of them. I would know because I was the shittiest one.” Lima grinned at him. “They also don’t know a damn thing about anything, so don’t take it to heart.”  
  
“Your lesson changes every time.” Teak argued, but he was smiling as he sat down.  
  
“Weiss, center stage; most embarrassing moment,” Lima said breezily.  
  
Weiss hummed for a long moment before glancing at Ren.  
  
“I can’t think of anything, either,” Weiss admitted.  
  
Apparently, Ruby had something saved up for just this occasion.  
  
“Weiss set the forest on fire during the exam,” Ruby jammed the knife into her back ruthlessly.  
  
Weiss spluttered for a moment, unable to counter her.  
  
“That was you?” Lima said incredulously, “I had to walk through that crap, my eyes are still stinging! If I get the black lung, I’m going to sue you frosty.”  
  
Weiss was red-faced now; they had managed to crack her icy exterior.  
  
“You distracted me!” Weiss cried embarrassedly.  
  
“Nuh-uh!” Ruby countered adroitly.  
  
“Ugh!” Weiss humphed and sat down.  
  
Everyone lay defeated, their secrets laid bare.  
  
“Well, we've exhausted that,” Yang said, grinning, “There's still a couple of hours until we are on the chopping block; what do we do now?”  
  
“Truth or dare?” Ruby suggested.  
  
“Never have I ever?” Lux countered.  
  
“Base jumping?” Lima offered, thinking of the landing zone cliff.  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.  
Amphitheatre, Beacon.  
6:07 PM.  
  
“In saying that, we have deliberated on your character, your actions, and your skill,” Ozpin said calmly, “Those of you who are standing here now are those who passed, the others are already on their way back to Vale.”  
  
Ozpin searched the crowd for a moment before locating whoever he was looking for.  
  
“Those that failed will have an opportunity to re-apply in a year, so you may meet those whom you have befriended once more.” Ozpin added thoughtfully, “Now, let us move onto the team formations.”  
  
The monitors hanging above the room flickered from the Beacon insignia to black silhouettes of four people, before fading into color.  
  
“Please join me on the stage,” Ozpin said easily.  
  
The four boys headed up onto the stage and stood before the man at parade rest.  
  
“Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark,” Ozpin pronounced at length, “The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces; from this day forward, you will work together as team ‘Cardinal’ led by Cardin Winchester.”  
  
The rest of the students clapped as team Cardinal left the stage looking pleased. The monitors changed, and the next four assembled on stage in front of the Headmaster.  
  
“Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie,” Ozpin said evenly, “The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces; from this day forward, you will work together as team ‘Juniper’ led by Jaune Arc.”  
  
Nora grabbed Ren in her excitement, but the quiet boy didn’t even look phased. Jaune looked shocked at his sudden captaincy, and Pyrrha clapped him on the shoulder in support. Team Juniper stepped down off the stage as the monitors changed again, and this time Lima saw his own face up there.  
  
He made his way up onto the stage and stopped in front of Ozpin. The man regarded the four of them with a searching gaze for a long moment before he spoke.  
  
“Claire Diamond, Teak Fawn, Lux Fulbright, Lima Morta,” Ozpin said steadily, “The four of you retrieved the Black King and Queen pieces; from this day forward, you will work together as team ‘Malachite’ led by Teak Fawn.”  
  
The crowd clapped.  
  
“Teak, what color is Malachite?” Lima wondered as they stepped off the stage.  
  
“Green,” Teak said nervously.  
  
“Awesome.” Lima declared, “Claire has the right idea with the green eyes, are we going to have to buy you and Lux some contacts?”  
  
“I’m not wearing contacts; my eyes are fantastic,” Lux said confidently. “Why’d you get to be the captain, Teak? Want to fight for it?”  
  
“Are we even allowed to change the captain?” Claire asked curiously.  
  
Teak looked even more nervous.  
  
“Um,” Teak squeaked, “I didn’t ask-I know I’m not-”  
  
“Balderdash.” Lima said loudly, “Teak is our captain, fall in line, you weaklings, or have your ass kicked by yours truly.”  
  
“Did you just call me a weakling?” Lux laughed, “As soon as we get out of here, we are going to find somewhere to establish _exactly_ who is the strongest on this team, and trust me, Lima; it’s not going to be you.”  
  
“Um,” Teak tried, “I don’t even really want to-”  
  
“Birch, please. Did you just call me out?” Lima said incredulously. “I am so down to fight, but if I win, you better give our esteemed captain the respect he deserves.”  
  
“Fine.” Lux said immediately, “But when I win, you’re going to do exactly what I say from now on.”  
  
Lima grinned at the Faunus; she must be pretty good to be this confident in herself.  
  
“Do I have to fight as well?” Claire asked curiously.  
  
“Yes,” Lima and Lux said at the exact same time.  
  
“Teak has to fight too,” Lux added.  
  
“Fine by me, but that doesn’t change the bet we just made.” Lima insisted, “Whether the other two win or lose, the bet is between you and me.”  
  
“Deal.” Lux grinned.  
  
“Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long,” Ozpin said evenly, “The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces; From this day forward, you will work together as team ‘Ruby,’ led by Ruby Rose.”


	7. MMR

Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.  
Amphitheatre, Beacon.  
7:07 PM.  
  
The Amphitheatre would have been the best place for their battle, but seeing as there were still hundreds of students idling about in the room, they would have to go elsewhere.  
  
“Should we just find an empty room?” Claire asked curiously. “Some of those looked pretty big earlier.”  
  
“What if we break something?” Teak asked, looking more nervous by the second.  
  
“How about outside? We can stick to melee to avoid anything hitting any bystanders by mistake.” Lima said thoughtfully. “We don’t want to shoot someone who has their guard down accidentally.”  
  
“Trying to weaken your opponents before the fight has even started?” Lux said lightly, “Coward.”  
  
Lima glanced over at her, amused, her confidence really was the real deal.  
  
“Do you even have a melee weapon, Lima?” Teak asked nervously, “I thought you only had the bow?”  
  
Lux frowned at the comment but didn’t say anything.  
  
“Eh, I can use one of my arrows to fight with, it will be fine.” Lima dismissed his concerns, “I’m more interested in seeing what you guys are rocking.”  
  
“I just have my sword, um it’s a semi-automatic rifle as well.” Teak said sheepishly.  
  
“I have _two_ swords; they double as revolvers!” Claire said happily, sticking her tongue out at the short boy. “Jealous?”  
  
“Yes, I’ll have to go buy three swords to make myself feel better.” Teak said good-naturedly.  
  
Claire giggled.  
  
“What about you, bright-eyes?” Lima asked curiously.  
  
Lux preened at the nickname; he’d have to change it to something else later.  
  
“Glaive with an Assault rifle mode,” Lux said confidently, before pausing for a second. “You only use a bow?”  
  
“Just a bow,” Lima nodded. “I shoot these.”  
  
Lima slid one of the metal spikes out of his quiver and extended it; he swished it around in the air for a bit.  
  
“It doesn’t even look like an arrow,” Lux smirked.  
  
“Tell that to all the Grimm I’ve shot in the face, lady,” Lima said wryly. “Oh wait, you can’t; They’re dead because I shot them in the face, with my arrow.”  
  
Lux laughed.  
  
They arrived at a clearing bordering the school, close enough so that there was still some artificial light from the buildings but far enough away to avoid the main fare. Lima vaguely remembered that both of the Faunus would have an easier time seeing in the dark because of their super eyes.  
  
“Rules are simple; Aura drops below twenty percent, you are out; keep track of it with your scrolls and call it out once you dip below. No live rounds until we get the go-ahead from one of the teachers either,” Lima said firmly, “Apart from that, this is free for all, nobody is your teammate right now, attack everyone, forget about hurting each other's feelings, this is a training exercise, got it?”  
  
“Yes.” Teak said firmly, taking a deep breath and drawing his sword.  
  
“Got it,” Claire said easily, brandishing both of her swords.  
  
“Ready,” Lux grinned savagely before she did an intricate flourish with her glaive.  
  
Teak looked intimidated by the large weapon and her skill with it.  
  
“Winner takes all,” Lima said, smiling, still holding onto his spike. “Three, two, one. Fight.”  
  
Claire suddenly disappeared.  
  
Lima dashed away from where he had last seen her, circling wide to the right to keep the other two in his line of sight.  
  
Teak yelped and then landed on his back on the ground.  
  
“I’m out!” Teak squeaked.  
  
There was no way he had no aura left, so why had he given up? Claire suddenly reappeared near where Teak was sitting, one of her swords resting against his cheek, but she made no move to come towards them.  
  
Well, that explained it.  
  
He couldn’t dwell on it because Lux was rushing towards him with her glaive out to one side.  
  
Lux swept the glaive into a wide slash that was far outside of his effective melee range, so he batted it aside with his spike, which was surprisingly much harder to do then he had expected. He doubted he would have been able to block that hit without his semblance.  
  
Lux looked pretty surprised as well, but she used the momentum of the deflection to draw the glaive back towards her, did a tight spin, and then lashed out again in a downward strike.  
  
Lima slapped the now extremely heavy weapon away with his spike, as well as the next six consecutive attacks that Lux chained into a seamless flurry. Claire disappeared at the twenty-second mark, and he immediately started zig-zagging backward away from her last known location, keeping Lux between them.  
  
Lux gave chase aggressively, and when Claire reappeared again much closer to them both, Lima headed straight towards her. Claire looked surprised at the sudden attack and barely managed to avoid a series of spike pokes before Lux caught up with them.  
  
Lima immediately dashed away back into the open field, making sure not to stay still for more than a half-second. Claire was acting as if she had a twenty-second time limit of invisibility before she had to restart it, but Lima had a feeling she was trying to deceive them.  
  
Lima engaged Lux, deflecting, and retreating.  
  
The second he saw a section of grass depress beside them, he dashed backward again. Claire landed a clean strike across Lux’s back and dropped her Aura by a third. Lux spun around in an instant and lashed out at her, and the power of her strike broke straight through the twin sword guard that Claire had managed to raise in time and drew a line against her Aura; diagonally across her body.  
  
Lux followed the debilitating strike up with another chain of precise attacks, not letting giving her the chance to become invisible again. The relentless assault left Claire defeated on the ground, below the Aura threshold.  
  
“I’m out,” Claire called completely out of breath.  
  
“Hah!” Lux huffed, breathing pretty hard herself.  
  
“Just you and me, bright-eyes,” Lima said mockingly. “Want to have a little nap first? You look pretty tired, swinging that silly stick around.”  
  
Lux hissed angrily for a second before she dashed towards him.  
  
This time she was clearly going for a low sweep, and Lima jaunted closer, blocking the inside haft of the glaive with his spike before launching a kick at her midsection. Lux twisted the weapon back towards her and blocked the kick with the shaft.  
  
Lima deflected the follow-up strike to the side and used his semblance to make sure it sunk into the ground before he stamped on the shaft pinning it. The opportunity allowed him to take a quick swipe at her with his spike, and she attempted a forearm block against the spike.  
  
It landed with a crack against her Aura and provided him more than enough contact to use his semblance on her. Lux was flung violently away from the impact, and she let out a yelp as she was sent cartwheeling across the grass at great speed. She smacked into the ground but managed to dig her heel in for enough purchase to halt her momentum.  
  
The fight wasn’t quite over yet, because her Aura was still hovering just above the twenty-percent threshold, so he stepped forward to stand between Lux and her still-buried-in-the-ground glaive.  
  
“What are you doing all the way over there?” Lima smirked, before throwing her own words back at her. “Coward.”  
  
Lux immediately took off towards him, a look of fury crossing her face.  
  
Was this what Sage had felt like every time the man had kicked his ass? He could almost understand why the old bastard had done it; It was nice being on the other side for once.  
  
Lux spun into a kick in an attempt to outrange his spike once more, but he flicked the spike over and tapped her on the shin; she was immediately sent tumbling across the grass again. Her scroll beeped, and she blew out a frustrated breath from flat on her back that sent some of her blonde hair flittering into the air.  
  
“I’m out,” Lux panted.  
  
“Ladies and gentlemen! The winner of the first-ever Beacon Battle for Bragging rights has been decided!” Lima cried, “Completely uncontested! He’s powerful! He’s handsome! LIMA! The crowd goes wild!”  
  
“Shut up,” Claire whined.  
  
“You wanna play with the human?” Lima said cheerfully, tossing out a chain of bodybuilder poses, “You better be ready for the horns!”  
  
Lux snorted, having not bothered to get up yet.  
  
“Oh god, he’s mixing metaphors now,” Teak said weakly. “Surely, it can’t get much worse than this.”  
  
Lima just grinned.  
  
“Well, Captain Teak, your faithful squad, Malachite, is at your service.” Lima chirped, “What's our first order of business?”  
  
“I guess we go to find our rooms?” Teak asked hesitantly.  
  
“Are you asking me or telling me?” Lima said grinning.  
  
“Telling.” Teak said awkwardly.  
  
“You’ve changed Teak!” Lima cried, and Teak jumped at the sudden volume. “Ever since you became captain, you’ve become too bossy! Wah!”  
  
Lux started laughing as she pushed herself up into a sitting position.  
  
“ _Stoooop._ ” Teak pleaded, “Claire, he’s picking on me again, beat him up.”  
  
Claire just giggled.  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.  
Malachite’s Dorm, Beacon.  
7:59 PM.  
  
“I thought there were _rooms_ ,” Claire said curiously, “This is a _room_.”  
  
“So did I,” Teak said awkwardly.  
  
It was a single room with four beds, four desks, and four dressers. A large window in the center of the wall opposite the door, and a door in the middle of each of the other two walls, one was the showers, and one was the toilets.  
  
“Who cares?” Lux said breezily, claiming a bed in the middle of the room.  
  
Claire wandered over to the bed against the far right wall and sat down. Teak claimed the bed on the far left, as far away from them both as he could manage. Leaving Lima, the bed in the middle left, which he promptly collapsed down on with a noise of contentment.  
  
“No more trains, no more sleeping bags,” Lima said happily, “This is heaven.”  
  
“This is awkward.” Teak mumbled. “We should buy a dividing wall or something.”  
  
He seemed rather alone in his suggestion; Lima had no intention of spending any of his precious funds so frivolously, and Lux didn’t seem to care about the lack of privacy.  
  
“Let's wait a couple of days first,” Claire laughed, “It might not be that bad, Teak.”  
  
Teak made a nervous noise, and Lima couldn’t help but come to the poor guy's rescue.  
  
“I’m setting some ground rules,” Lima said loudly, turning his face just enough for his voice not to be muffled. “If anyone attempts to invade the sanctity of one of us, they will be met with a combined ass-kicking from the other three; if it's particularly egregious, we will report the person to the staff immediately; no exceptions. No bullying in the room, no drama in the room, no inviting random people into the room without consulting the others, and absolutely no unwanted touching. Have I missed anything?”  
  
“Define sanctity,” Claire said, amused.  
  
“No crawling into bed with my boy Teak, he is an innocent flower, and I won’t have him sullied by your wanton advances,” Lima said immediately, unable to even bring himself to roll face up. “So, keep your hands to yourselves, ladies.”  
  
“Aww.” Claire joked easily, “You’re no fun.”  
  
Teak squeaked at the comment, and Lux laughed.  
  
“Anything you guys want to add, any pet peeves that we should be made aware of to avoid arguments?” Lima asked after they fell silent, “I will warn you all not to touch my shampoo. It’s vanilla bean and cocoa butter; it smells delicious. It’s also expensive as heck, so get your own.”  
  
“Really?” Lux laughed, “Your hair is short enough you could get away with using body wash.”  
  
Lima found the willpower to roll over at stare at her in disbelief.  
  
“Ew!” Lima said in disgust. “Washing your hair with body wash!? Have some self-respect, you degenerate!”  
  
“Yeah!” Claire said loudly.  
  
“What!?” Lux demanded, “What the hell is wrong with using body wash?”  
  
“ _Yeah!_ ” Claire said again, egging them both on.  
  
“Are you _kidding_ me?” Lima said, squinting at her; she had a lot of hair, and it didn’t look badly cared for but still. “You use body wash to clean your hair?”  
  
“Its soap!” Lux said incredulously, “Its what it's for!”  
  
“What!?” Lima cried, “I wouldn’t wash my _ass hair_ with body wash! Teak! Back me up, dog!”  
  
“Y-yeah!” Claire said giggling.  
  
“U-um,” Teak stuttered, “I don’t use shampoo either…”  
  
“Teak!?” Lima cried pained, “You can’t be doing this to yourself, man! You’re going to end up with a bald spot like Lux or something!”  
  
“A bald spot!” Claire cheered.  
  
“I don’t have a bald spot!” Lux punctuated her statement by pegging her pillow at his head.  
  
“Hey!” Lima covered his head with his hands. “Just cause you destroyed your hair doesn’t mean you can attempt to assassinate mine!”  
  
Lux hissed at him, and he peeked out from behind his hands to make sure he wasn’t about to be attacked, but she had already sat back on her elbows.  
  
“I have something!” Claire said happily, “If I have a bad day, I listen to music on my scroll, so if I’m wearing my headphones and ignoring you, you’ll know why.”  
  
“I do the same thing,” Teak smiled at her.  
  
Claire beamed at the slight boy.  
  
“Lima, are you sure I can’t-” Claire said, grinning.  
  
“Absolutely not,” Lima said immediately, “Keep your hands to yourself, missy.”  
  
“I do yoga in the mornings,” Lux huffed, “I’m not going to stop because you three are here, but I suppose I’ll try to be quiet.”  
  
“I do yoga too!” Claire said happily, “We can do it together.”  
  
“Sounds good to me,” Lux said, pleased.  
  
“Hm,” Lima hummed, “I won’t have to do sparring in the mornings anymore, so I suppose I better go get some exercise instead.”  
  
“Lima? Can I come with you?” Teak asked, hopefully.  
  
“You two don’t want to stay here and do yoga with us?” Claire said sadly.  
  
Lux rolled her eyes at the other girl’s attempt at guilting them.  
  
“I do a bunch of flexibility exercises, but I don’t know any of the actual yoga routines,” Lima admitted easily.  
  
“U-um.” Teak said nervously, “I don’t know how to do it either.”  
  
“We can teach you!” Claire said grinning.  
  
Lima scratched his cheek for a moment before shrugging.  
  
“Sure, we can call it team bonding yoga.” Lima agreed, “We could do some sparring afterward if you guys are up for it.”  
  
“I am,” Lux said immediately, grinning. “Class doesn’t start until 8:30 AM, so we have some time to kill, and I want another crack at you.”  
  
Lima snorted; she had a one-track mind, sparring could be fun sure, but killing Grimm, now that was where the real fun was at.  
  
“Is yoga hard?” Teak asked worriedly, “I don’t want to slow you down-Hey!”  
  
Lima tossed Lux’s pillow back and hit the boy in the face.  
  
“At first it is,” Claire smiled at him, “but it gets easier the more you do it.”  
  
“That’s what she said!” Lima crowed.  
  
Lux laughed out loud about the same time as Claire's pillow smacked into Lima’s face. He grinned, up at the ceiling, not bothering to remove the projectile.  
  
“Some of the moves _are_ quite strenuous,” Lux added easily. “and that’s also what she said.”  
  
“Hah!” Lima cackled.  
  
“Alright, Yoga in the mornings, followed by some sparring, breakfast, class.” Teak said curiously, “How about once the classes are all finished for the day?”  
  
“Free time?” Claire said coyly, tapping her cheek with a finger.  
  
“Lazy ass,” Lux said, amused.  
  
“I’m going to head into Emerald forest again,” Lima said easily. “I left my handbag down there; I need to go find it.”  
  
“What?” Lux said incredulously.  
  
“He’s lying,” Teak said immediately, “He wants to go kill more Grimm.”  
  
“Teak!” Lima whined, “Stop revealing all my dastardly plans.”  
  
“Won’t it be dark by then?” Claire asked curiously.  
  
“Probably,” Lima sighed; he hadn’t thought of that. “What's the worst that could happen?”  
  
“You don’t see a Grimm that’s sneaking up on you?” Teak said, concerned.  
  
“Then it eats you, and we have to tell the instructors,” Claire added, amused.  
  
“You survive, unharmed?” Lux smirked. “And we have to deal with you for another four years?”  
  
“Fuck off,” Lima laughed. “That’s just mean.”  
  
The others giggled while Lux just looked pleased with herself. Lima shot off the bed and headed for the door to the showers startling everyone with the sudden movement.  
  
“Shotgun first shower!” Lima said gleefully. “I might leave you some hot water if you’re lucky.”  
  
“You better not use it all, idiot!” Lux said incredulously.  
  
“I'm using it all!” Lima cried out, just to be a contrarian, “Its rapidly disappearing! Oh no, how could this have happened?”  
  
“You didn’t even shut the door!” Teak said embarrassedly, “Lima!”  
  
“You do it!” Lima cackled, “I’m far too busy using up all the hot water from all-f _our_ showerheads?!”  
  
Claire started laughing.  
  
“Bastard.” Lux huffed. “He better not.”  
  


* * *

  
Sunday, 6th April 79AGW.  
Malachite’s Dorm, Beacon.  
10:59 PM.  
  
“Lima?” Teak said quietly, in the dark. “Are you awake?”  
  
Lima rolled over onto his back to stare at the ceiling.  
  
“I’m awake,” Lima said easily, “What's up, buddy?”  
  
“I just wanted to say thank you..” Teak said quietly, “If you hadn’t helped me during the exam-I’m not sure I would have been able to land without hurting myself.”  
  
“Don’t worry about it.” Lima closed his eyes, thinking back to the exam. “Thanks for steering me back onto the actual objective, I get a little zealous with the, you know.”  
  
“Killing Grimm?” Teak whispered.  
  
“Yeah,” Lima said simply, “Hey, Teak, how about we put aside some time during the week, and I’ll help you with the Aura stuff if you want.”  
  
“Really?” Teak said quietly, “I’m starting to feel bad about everything you’re doing for me.”  
  
“As the recently discovered strongest member of team Malachite, it is my job-nay, my _duty_ ; to whip you all into shape,” Lima said, smiling, “Especially that Lux, no stamina at all.”  
  
“That’s what she said,” Claire added, giggling from across the room.  
  
“I _will_ come over there,” Lux said threateningly. “Neither of you are safe from my wrath.”  
  
“All five feet of it.” Lima snickered.  
  
The bed creaked ominously, and he found two luminous eyes starring at him in the dark. He slowly pulled the covers up to his chin; he was kind of jealous, all things considered. If he had the whole night-sight thing going on, he could spend hours in the forest; just think of all the Grimm he could be out killing.  
  
Some people had all the luck.


	8. Expectations

Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Malachite’s Dorm, Beacon.  
5:00 am.  
  
His scroll shouting that he was falling woke him up pretty quickly, and the grumbling of his teammates helped give him the extra push to kick his legs out of bed and turn off his alarm. Lima let out a long yawn and rubbed at his eyes for a minute. Teak was still asleep, with his arms and legs wrapped around his pillow, and he couldn’t help but snicker at the sight.  
  
He stood up before padded over to the dresser he had stuffed his clothing into; he snatched a pair of sweatpants and an old shirt. If they were going to be exercising before class, they should put off the showers until they came back to get changed into their uniforms. Getting them sweaty already would be a waste.  
  
He quickly used the bathroom and tidied himself up in the mirror before returning to the room. Lux was awake; no doubt, the sound of the door had woken her.  
  
“Morning bright-eyes,” Lima said easily.  
  
“Morning,” Lux yawned, before sliding past him into the toilets.  
  
Lima studied the room for a minute, Claire and Teak were late risers by the look of it. Claire was even snoring, which was hilarious. He cleared his throat for a moment before sitting down on his bed.  
  
“Teak! You failed all the exams! We have to go retake them!” Lima cried in faux panic.  
  
Teak sat straight up in bed and stared at him in horror.  
  
“I failed!? B-but-” Teak squeaked, before groaning. “ _Lima_! That’s not funny.”  
  
“It’s a little bit funny,” Lima said, smiling, “Come on, we need to tell Claire that they’ve banned all dual-wielding at the beacon, and they are kicking her out.”  
  
“Lima, that’s mean,” Claires whined, having woken up already. “It's also weirdly specific.”  
  
Lima just grinned.  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Malachite’s Dorm, Beacon.  
5:30 am.  
  
“Yoga is an old art, passed down through the millennia; originally gifted to the humans by the ancient being Yogurt, so that we might worship his creamy goodness-” Lima said solemnly before he was viciously cut off.  
  
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Lux said incredulously. “Teak, there's no god of yogurt; Yoga is an old word whose meaning originally meant to represent a connection. It can be used as a form of meditation, or simply a flexibility regime.”  
  
Lima pouted.  
  
Claire clapped her hands together as if in prayer and hummed loudly, drawing all of their gazes.  
  
“Yuuummmmmmm, Yooooooogurt, Yuuummmmmmmm.” Claire hummed tranquility.  
  
Lima started laughing, and Lux rolled her eyes before huffing.  
  
“ _Claire._ ” Teak pleaded. “Don’t egg him on.”  
  
“Just copy my poses for now,” Lux pouted as her lesson was derailed.  
  
Lux stood up and settled into a standing position, breathing evenly. There was a pause as everyone watched her quietly, and she cracked an eye open to glare at them.  
  
“Hurry up,” Lux demanded.  
  
“Y-yes!” Teak squeaked and scrambled over to copy her.  
  
Claire had already stood up, and Lima completed the line.  
  
“Arms by your side, slowly lift them up high,” Lux said calmly until they were above her.  
  
The others lifted their arms and slowly followed her example, well Teak and Lima did. Claire already knew what she was doing, so she was just making faces at them and trying to get them to mess up. Lima enjoyed himself during the calming exercise, but his mind was entirely stuck on yogurt.  
  
His stomach rumbled.  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Training Hall B, Beacon.  
6:30 am.  
  
The closest training hall that they found was actually attached to the dorm hall. It was a large square multistory building with a pair of double doors on one side. It was also conveniently unlocked, whether that was a subtle hint to the students that extracurricular training was encouraged or that the cleaners had messed up, he wasn’t sure.  
  
They were all pretty sweaty after the long session, and by the end of it, only Lux had been able to keep running through the poses as she slowly upped the difficulty. Teak had dropped out first, and Lima had managed to beat out Claire by a couple of minutes. Claire had just been happy that there were others around that seemingly shared her interest or were willing to try it out at least.  
  
Lima was impressed; he had been conditioning himself for over a decade and training for flexibility for several years, all in the pursuit of a flexible grappling style to defeat Sage’s bullshit semblance.  
  
Lux had clearly put in a tremendous amount of focused effort on this in particular; given her acrobatic fighting style, it was clearly paying off. Claire likewise seemed to have a great deal of progress in this area. Teak just looked exhausted, the poor guy, although his slight build had seemingly helped some.  
  
The training hall wasn’t empty; there were actually half a dozen people spread out across the massive room, shadowboxing, performing kata’s, and sparring with each other.  
  
“So, how are we going about this?” Lima scratched at his chin, “Free for all? Teams? Singles? One vee three?”  
  
He smirked at Lux after the last comment, and her eyes locked onto his intently.  
  
“We didn’t get our weapons, so is this just going to be unarmed?” Claire said nervously, “I’m not really any good without my weapons.”  
  
“I’m not really good with either,” Teak mumbled.  
  
Lima clapped him on the back, sending him stumbling forward.  
  
“Three-vee-one it is,” Lima said cheerfully, “Me, Lux, Claire verse Teak?”  
  
“What?” Teak squeaked in alarm.  
  
“Wow,” Lux said incredulously. “That seems rather lopsided.”  
  
“Oh right,” Lima snickered, “Claire vs. Teak, round one.”  
  
Claire stepped out and settled in across from Teak; neither of them looked particularly confident.  
  
“In the blue corner,” Lima said loudly, “He’s sleek, he’s quick, and he has a galaxy brain, Teak!”  
  
“Stooop,” Teak pleaded, looking around at the other students. “Everyone's looking at us now!”  
  
“In the red corner!” Lux grinned, “She’s vanishingly quick, and quite nimble to boot, Claire!”  
  
“Oh god,” Claire said, looking a little embarrassed by all the attention herself.  
  
“Three, two, one!” Lima glanced over at Lux.  
  
“Fight!” Lux said obligingly.  
  
The two embarrassed teenagers watched each other for a moment before Claire darted towards her opponent.  
  
“Claire is eager to start the fight,” Lima commentated, grinning, “She’s not giving Teak any time to use his galaxy brain.”  
  
“A savage kick to the hip from Claire,” Lux winced, “Teak’s reeling from that one, he's off-balance-”  
  
“Teak!” Claire squawked.  
  
“Teak lands a surprising overhand!” Lima said urgently, “Straight to the tit! A debilitating strike to be sure.”  
  
“Claire’s using the painful strike to fuel her counter, OH!” Lux shouted, “A near miss, her foot glanced off his thigh that was a fight ender right there.”  
  
“Claire is definitely embracing the ancient art of kick-em-in-the-dick,” Lima said seriously. “Teak’s defense is good; he’s managing to keep Miss Diamond from reaching the rest of the jewels.”  
  
Lux started laughing and stumbled through her own commentating.  
  
“T-teak manages to land another solid hit, to t-the collarbone this time; he must be disappointed.” Lux giggled.  
  
“Claire sweeps his legs!” Lima said urgently, “-and just like that, the fight is over.”  
  
“Winner, Claire Diamond!” Lux giggled.  
  
“It’s not funny,” Claire panted embarrassedly, “Stop giggling!”  
  
“Nice tit-punch Teak,” Lima cackled.  
  
“I want to die.” Teak groaned red-faced.  
  
Lux dragged him to his feet, and Lima ran the fight over in his mind.  
  
“Claire, you’ve got all the reflexes built up from weapon combat; you just need to spend more time fighting without one.” Lima said thoughtfully, “Your defense needs a bit of work as well; you tend to hold your hands too low; probably because you're used to blocking with your swords.”  
  
“Yeah,” Claire said quietly, looking at the ground.  
  
“Hey, don’t be sad,” Lima said quickly, “That leg sweep was a thing of beauty.”  
  
Claire flashed him a smile before Lux spoke up.  
  
“Teak, you need to work on everything,” Lux said bluntly, “But more specifically evading, and deflecting should be the first thing you learn.”  
  
Teak just nodded, still panting.  
  
“Your offense is pretty much covered,” Lima said thoughtfully, “The way you punched her in the tit, you’re an absolute barbarian, my dude.”  
  
“I didn’t mean to!“ Teak pleaded, latching onto his shirt red-faced. “I said I was sorry, but she just kept on trying to kick me!”  
  
Claire cracked and started laughing as well, but she pulled the shorter boy into a hug.  
  
“I forgive you, Teak,” Claire said, snickering.  
  
Teak sniffled for a moment before Lux spoke up again.  
  
“My turn,” Lux said intently. “I still haven’t figured out exactly what it was, but no using your Semblance, you cheater.”  
  
Lima blinked at the comment; it was almost exactly like what he had routinely said to the old bastard.  
  
“Hey, you were using yours as well,” Lima defended.  
  
Lux hmphed before stepping back into the place that Claire had occupied. Lima moved over to Teak's previous spot and turned to face her. He glanced over at the other pair hopefully, but Claire immediately shut him down.  
  
“Were not commentating,” Claire said smugly. “Three, two, one.”  
  
Lima shook his arms out and lowered his stance, watching the yellow eyes of his opponent.  
  
“O-oh.” Teak said suddenly. “Fight.”  
  
Lux’s eyes widened as he dashed straight towards her; she must have thought he would fight like he had last night, evasively. He’d only played it that way because he was unsure what their semblances and weapons were. After a decade of trying to inflict some measure of damage on Sage, Lima had grown most comfortable when on the attack.  
  
Lux stepped to the side as he reached her, chambering a kick up at his face. Lima spun underneath it; he crouched all the way to the floor and wrapped his other hand around her standing ankle before tearing it straight off the ground.  
  
Lux fell backward for a moment before his kick smacked into her desperate guard, and she was sent flipping over in the air. She managed to get her feet under her before she skidded to a stop. Lima was already going after her again, but this time Lux didn’t wait; she met him in the middle.  
  
He palmed her straight punch off-target and kicked her in the calf, before rotating around her. Lux spun to keep him in view, and he lunged towards her again.  
  
Lux deflected his first jab, then immediately angled to block his next one. Lima switched from his punch into a low tackle that drove her into the floor on her back. Lux kicked up at his face, but he just circled her.  
  
Lux tried to get up, and he advanced, kicking her back down.  
  
She backed up to get some distance, and he lunged at her again, but this time he latched onto her ankle when she tried to kick him, capturing it under his right arm. He pressed forward, swung his leg over her leg, and fell back onto the floor.  
  
Lux tried to kick him with her other leg, but she didn’t really have the leverage or the angle to do more than glancing hits.  
  
Lima rolled onto her leg and extended it slowly.  
  
“Super-mega-death-leg-breaker!” Lima cackled.  
  
“I’m out!” Lux said, panicked.  
  
Lima let go immediately and sat back on his hands, grinning at her.  
  
“What the hell was that?” Lux pouted, rubbing at her knee.  
  
“Super-mega-death-” Lima started.  
  
“That’s not what I meant.” Lux huffed. “Your fighting style is weird.”  
  
“I believe the word you were looking for is effective,” Lima said easily, he glanced over at where he left his scroll open. “We have thirty minutes left; Teak, get back over here. I need a real opponent.”  
  
Lux stared at him with narrowed eyes for a long moment before she hmphed again and went to sit by Claire.  
  
“Do I have to?” Teak said weakly.  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Dining Hall, Beacon.  
7:30 am.  
  
They headed back to the rooms to shower and get dressed before down for breakfast. The kitchen was housed in a building that bordered the Dining Hall, with an open food countertop joining the two buildings that were covered in containers. It was a lot like the cafeteria he was used to back at Sanctum; grab a tray, a plate, or bowl, and pick what you wanted.  
  
They quickly found an empty table and sat down.  
  
“Not many people here,” Lima asked curiously. “What time does breakfast finish?”  
  
“8:15,” Teak said thoughtfully. “I guess they might have all beaten us here?”  
  
“You’re giving them all way too much credit,” Lima said, amused, “If I hadn’t woken you and Claire up, you would still be asleep.”  
  
Teak pouted before he ducked his head to continue eating. Claire was eating with one hand while reading their schedule with the other.  
  
“It's pretty much the same classes alternating between two days. So we have Grimm Studies every day at 8:30 am, it goes until 10:00 am,” Claire said, chewing on her spoon. “So that’s our first class for today, it's in Lecture Hall, A6; I have no idea where that is.”  
  
Grimm studies, Lima thought. That sounded right up his alley.  
  
“There was a big map just outside,” Teak said, smiling, “We can check it when we're done.”  
  
Claire flashed him a smile.  
  
“On Mondays, the second class is Crafting and Upkeep; it starts at 10:30 am, goes until 12:00 pm.” Claire continued, “That one is in the ‘Workshop,’ another one to look for on the map, I guess.”  
  
Lima nodded in thought; his missing arrows had been bugging him since the fight with the Nevermore's.  
  
He would be able to make some more in that class, although he wasn’t sure if they had the gravity dust crystal on hand, he’d probably have to buy that on his own. One decently sized crystal could be used for about six arrows, so he should only need the one.  
  
“How long is the break period?” Lux asked curiously.  
  
“An hour and fifteen minutes,” Claire said pleasantly. “Monday third period is History from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm; Lecture Hall A9.”  
  
“What's the last class?” Lux prompted.  
  
“Fourth period is always Practical Combat, 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the amphitheater.” Claire hummed, “It also has after 5:00 pm listed as ‘Self-Directed Sparring.’”  
  
“Hmm, maybe we should move our spars to then and do something else in the mornings,” Lima suggested.  
  
There was a general agreement from the other three.  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Lecture Hall A6, Beacon.  
8:25 am.  
  
Peter Port, the Professor of the Grimm Studies class, was a rotund man, with grey hair and a large bushy mustache. Lima grinned as the man beamed up at them all; the old guy had a presence that filled the room.  
  
“Monsters, demons. Prowlers of the night,” Professor Port said dramatically, “Yes, the creatures of Grimm have been known by many names throughout the ages, but I merely refer to them as prey!”  
  
The man gave a boisterous laugh to punctuate the statement.  
  
Lima snickered; the guy was a hunter who had survived past middle age in the single most dangerous profession in the world. Despite him hamming it up a bit, it was clear the guy was strong and had dealt with who knows how many of the enemies of humanity throughout his life.  
  
“You shall too, of course, upon graduating from this prestigious academy; now as I was saying,” Professor Port said, ignoring the pointed silence. “Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world.”  
  
Lima was amused to note that the girl in red at the front of the class, uh, Ruby? Was somehow falling asleep; there was no way Port hadn’t noticed, so he was simply ignoring it.  
  
“Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces!” Professor Port said seriously.  
  
Lima felt his jaw tense a little at the wording; it brought forth some long-buried memories he didn’t want to dwell on; he’d spent enough years stuck in that thought spiral already.  
  
“That’s where we come in.” Professor Port said firmly, making eye contact with several of the students. “Huntsman, Huntresses; Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”  
  
“That is what you’re all training to become,” Professor Port said with finality, before grinning suddenly. “But first, a story! A tale of a young, _handsome_ man; Me!”  
  
Lima snickered again; the man was a storyteller at heart.  
  
“When I was a boy, several years younger than you all are now, I lived in a village on the southwestern coast of Sanus; I was born there in fact. You wouldn’t be able to find it on a map. It was a small village but fairly well defended given its size.” Professor Port said amicably, before adding more solemnly. “It’s…no longer around, of course, a story many of the outskirts villages share, but it lasted for almost three decades.”  
  
Lima studied the man intently; they had something in common then. His own birth village was no longer around-the panic and fear of that night itched at the back of his mind before he crushed it ruthlessly.  
  
“Never-the-less, our village was used to fighting off the small Grimm in the area, and we even had some Huntsman around to deal with the more dangerous threats at most times.” Professor Port said thoughtfully, “They weren’t there at the time of this story-I’m still not sure why, even to this day. My best guess is that they were called in to fight a more dangerous threat in a nearby city-this of course, left our own undefended.”  
  
The man's face had grown colder as he recalled the details, and his tone lost some of its cheer before he shook his head and smiled at them.  
  
“Regardless, we thought nothing of it at the time, we had been experiencing almost three months of peace; not a single Grimm attack. I remember it being one of the happiest times of the village.” Professor Port smiled, “Of course, the Grimm ended up attacking almost as soon as the Huntsman and Huntresses had left, the timing was awful.”  
  
Lima frowned; that happened on occasion. Grimm would sometimes manage to slip through defenses and attack somewhere for critical damage, despite all the protections in place. It had occurred in Argus several times, although the Grimm had been exterminated quite quickly afterward.  
  
“I wasn’t a Huntsman back then,” Professor Port said distractedly, lost in the nostalgia. “My Aura _was_ unlocked, and I was working as a woodcutters apprentice at the time, so my only ‘weapon’ was a woodcutters ax.”  
  
Ruby let out a little snore, and the Professor once again completely ignored it. Weiss was practically vibrating in her seat in anger.  
  
“Despite smelling of cabbages, My grandfather was a wise man.” Professor Port laughed, “Peter, he told me, you’ve got to learn how to fight if you want to survive out here; we all do. He’d been an advocate for arms training for the villages for most of his life, and because of his concentrated efforts, we all at least knew how to put the pointy end into the enemy.”  
  
Lima laughed; it was a term the old bastard had used more than once. It must have been a pretty common saying in days since passed. Professor Port grinned at the interest shown in his tale.  
  
“So, thirteen Beowulf attacked the village-no Alpha thankfully,” Professor Port said with a serious nod before he frowned.“We managed to fight them off, but one of them was acting particularly strangely.”  
  
He tilted his head curiously.  
  
“Most Grimm will simply attack their target on sight, and kill it.” Professor Port said thoughtfully, “A single Beowulf grabbed one of the children, a little girl, and attempted to drag her out of the village, but otherwise did nothing to harm her.”  
  
Lima blinked at the idea; he’d never seen a Beowulf do something like that, hell; he’d never seen a Grimm do something like that. Even the predatory fliers that picked things up in their talons generally tried to shred its victim in its grip. He’d seen Grimm retreat when they were overwhelmed, and he’d seen them try to slip into stealth after engaging to gain an advantage.  
  
He’d never seen one try to kidnap a person; it was bizarre.  
  
“I followed it, with nothing but my Ax in hand; I was terrified, of course, but I refused to let that stop me from saving her.” Professor Port said firmly, “I tracked it down, and did my best to kill it, the girl managed to escape during the fight; I actually lost hold of my ax several times, but I fought with a determination, and in fear of my life.”  
  
Despite his best efforts, Lima could imagine it; he remembered his mother desperately clinging to a Beowulf that was attempting to come towards him while the other three tore her to shreds.  
  
“In the end, the Beowulf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I managed to wound it enough that it could no longer fight.” Professor Port said with a gleam in his eyes, “I collected the young girl, and dragged the still alive Grimm back to the village; with my clothes torn, my body bloodied, but my head held high.”  
  
Lima wished his own tale had been as triumphant.  
  
“I was celebrated as a hero on my return,” Professor Port said a little shakily before he shook his head and laughed again. “The moral of the story for those not paying attention; I was very lucky.”  
  
There was a general rumbled of surprise throughout the class, and Ruby finally woke back up.  
  
“I was a barely trained civilian who was lucky enough to have his Aura unlocked, I probably would have died there otherwise.” Professor Port said seriously. “ _Listen to me now_ ; A true Huntsman or Huntress must be honorable, they must be dependable, they need determination, they _must_ have the intent to kill those who would align themselves against humanity, they must be strategic, well-educated, and wise.”  
  
The atmosphere in the class was heavy for a long moment before the Professor smile slightly once more, and the tension slowly vanished.  
  
“So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?” Professor Port said cheerfully.  
  
Lima put his hand up, but he wasn’t the only one. Weiss, Pyrrha, Blake, and Cardin all raise their hands at the same time.  
  
“I do, sir!” Weiss called firmly, drawing the man's attention specifically to her.  
  
Lima let his hand fall easily.  
  
“Well, then! Let’s find out.” Professor Port said, pleased. “Come down and face your opponent.”  
  
He crossed the room to the double doors on the right of the lecture hall and opened them. A large metal cage sat almost directly behind them. Lima could see the Boarbatusk sitting angrily inside, butting its head against the cage. He wondered how long ago the man had captured the thing; after a certain amount of time in captivity, the creatures of Grimm were prone to just dissipating if they were trapped. He must have gone and found it this morning, subdued it, and then placed it in the cage, ready for their lesson.  
  
Weiss slowly made her way down to the large open area at the front of the room and stood opposite the doors; her rapier held tightly in her hand.  
  
“Um,” Teak said quietly, “This seems really dangerous.”  
  
“Nah,” Lima said easily, “A single Boarbatusk has zero chance of killing anyone in this room; it wouldn’t be able to deal enough damage to break anyone’s Aura before the Professor killed it. Hell, I’d kill it if it was about to murder anyone.”  
  
“Oh,” Teak said in understanding, “I wasn’t really thinking about it like that. I suppose this is like how you helped me during the test; if we can kill them in controlled environments first, we become more able to kill them out in the real world.”  
  
“Exactly,” Lux said, smiling.  
  
“Why didn’t you put your hand up, Lux?” Claire said curiously, “I thought you would want to fight it.”  
  
“It’s a single low-level Grimm,” Lux said smoothly, “I’d rather fight the Professor.”  
  
Lima didn’t really agree; he was kind of sad that he didn’t get to kill the thing, but clearly, Weiss had wanted to destroy it more; his opinion of her rose slightly at her eagerness.  
  
Professor Port retrieved his weapon off the wall-mount and strode over to stand beside the cage, completely at ease, even as it rattled ominously.  
  
“Go, Weiss!” Yang shouted cheerfully.  
  
“Fight well!” Blake called a moment later.  
  
“Yeah!” Ruby said happily, “Represent team RWBY!”  
  
“Ruby! Be quiet.” Weiss snapped, “I’m trying to focus.”  
  
Lima frowned as Ruby slumped back into her seat with a weak apology. His opinion of Weiss once more dropped back down; she really was kind of an asshole.  
  
“All right,” Professor Port said, smiling, “Let the match begin.”  
  
He cut straight through the padlock holding the door of the cage shut, and it swung open.


	9. Learning

Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Lecture Hall A6, Beacon.  
8:40 am.  
  
The Boarbatusk wasted no time in charging out of the cage and straight towards the person opposite it; Weiss.  
  
“It’s fast.” Teak said quietly.  
  
“Straight lines, it has trouble with turning-see how she parried it and slipped to the side?” Lima said, grinning, “Now it’s forced to bleed off its speed and rotate around, the best moment to attack is right after it starts to slow down.”  
  
Weiss didn’t follow up with an attack, instead rolling back to her feet in a smooth motion and retaking a ready stance. The Boarbatusk glanced around the room, taking in everyone sitting in the rows above, with its four glaring eyes before it refocused on the white-haired girl.  
  
“You’re right, it came to a complete stop almost to turn around,” Teak murmured, “How do they act in more open areas?”  
  
“Much the same, but there's more room for wider turns out in a field than in this room,” Lux said simply.  
  
“You can follow adjacent to it if your fast enough; stay on its flank, and it will find it hard to turn fast enough to attack you.” Claire chimed in.  
  
“I feel so far behind, and it's only the first day,” Teak said quietly.  
  
Claire nudged him with her shoulder, bouncing him into Lima, and he squeaked at the sudden assault.  
  
“You’re doing fine,” Claire smiled, “I promise.”  
  
Teak ducked his head embarrassed, but Lima could see a smile working its way back onto his face.  
  
“Hang in there, Weiss!” Ruby cheered in support.  
  
Weiss didn’t respond. Instead, an icy blue symbol of some kind appeared beneath her on the floor, and she blurred forward in a straight line, right at the Grimm. Somehow the Boarbatusk managed to snag the girls rapier between its tusks, holding them both in a power struggle as it did its best to throw her across the room.  
  
“What was that symbol on the ground?” Teak asked, surprised.  
  
“It’s her Semblance,” Claire spoke up, “You know how I can turn invisible?”  
  
“Yes?” Teak nodded, “So that’s hers? It makes her faster?”  
  
“I don’t think that’s it exactly,” Lima said noncommittally.  
  
He could do something similar with his own Semblance, but he wouldn’t say that his Semblance makes him faster; that was just a single way in which he could leverage it.  
  
“The Schnee family all have the same Semblance; it’s one of the inheritable bloodlines.” Lux said evenly, “The symbols are widely known as ‘Glyphs,’ and have a variety of different effects.”  
  
Lima glanced at her curiously; she knew an awful lot about the Schnee family. Lux caught him staring and huffed before looking away.  
  
“Winter Schnee participated in the Vytal Festival a few years ago; I remember the announcers explaining it to the crowd.” Lux mumbled, “I watched most of it at home.”  
  
“Bold new approach!” Professor Port beamed, “I like it!”  
  
“Weiss is struggling,” Claire snickered, “Why is she attacking it head-on? She's more than fast enough to keep behind it.”  
  
“Come on, Weiss!” Ruby cheered again, “Show it who’s boss!”  
  
Lima had a pretty good idea of what she was doing, so he spoke up.  
  
“She obviously wants to look it in the eyes as she wipes it off the face of-annnd she just got disarmed by a Boarbatusk.” Lima said, shocked, “What the hell?”  
  
The Grimm smacked her halfway across the room, and her rapier went in the complete opposite direction. Teak stood up immediately, trying to step into the aisle, but Lux just grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back down.  
  
“Lux-she doesn’t have a weapon now!” Teak said worriedly, “We need to help her!”  
  
Lux threw her arm over his shoulder and dragged him down into a part-headlock part-hug.  
  
“She’ll be fine, Teak, relax,” Lux said, smirking.  
  
“You’re such a hero, Teak,” Claire swooned, “You can’t go around saving other maidens like this, I’ll get jealous.”  
  
“Yeah,” Lima said, grinning, “You punched her in the tit, remember? That’s pretty much a proposal, you know?”  
  
Claire pouted at the reminder, and Teak flushed.  
  
“Hoh, hoh!” Professor Port laughed, “Now, what will you do without your weapon?”  
  
“Lima,” Teak mumbled, redfaced, and still stuck in Lux’s grip. “What if she gets hurt?”  
  
Weiss rolled out of the way of the next charge, and the Boarbatusk couldn’t halt its momentum in time and smacked headfirst into the front desks, rattling them all from the force. She sprinted across the room, slid across the floor, and snatched her rapier back up.  
  
“Weiss!” Ruby called, “Go for its belly! There’s no armor underneath!”  
  
“See, she’s got her weapon back now,” Lux said, easily loosening her grip on him, but not letting him go. “Nothing to worry abou-”  
  
“Stop telling me what to do!” Weiss snapped furiously, completely taking her eyes off the Grimm.  
  
The Boarbatusk tucked itself into a ball and started rolling towards her the second she looked away, thinking it had found an opportunity. Weiss generated another of her glyphs right in front of its path, and the Boarbatusk ran into it headfirst before recoiling onto its back, exposing its belly in the process.  
  
“She’s kind of an asshole,” Claire said curiously.  
  
Weiss flipped backward, generated another glyph in mid-air that flashed black before she rocketed forward to spear the Grimm straight through its torso.  
  
“Bravo! Bravo, it appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training!” Professor Port said cheerfully, “Well done! Please retake your seat.”  
  
Weiss stomped back over to her team and sat down, refusing to look at her teammates.  
  
“This will be a reoccurring theme here, I will be bringing a single Grimm to each class, and you will each be taking turns eliminating them.” Professor Port said easily, “Adjacent to that, I routinely run small hunting missions in the surrounding areas. My schedule is by the door; they usually take place on weekends.”  
  
Lima was definitely participating in those.  
  
“Students from other years and classes occasionally join me,” Professor Port said cheerfully, “You can come on your own, or bring your team; it’s up to you. These missions will have no bearing on your grades, and these specific hunts are not mandatory.”  
  
The man clapped his hands and grinned.  
  
“Well, now that the exciting part of the lesson is over, it’s time to cover some actual book studies.” Professor Port said good-naturedly, “I’ll be handing out the Grimm compendium we will be going over, be aware that there will be some assigned reading to do on your own time-after class-you can find all the resources you need for that in the library.”  
  
Looks like he was never going to escape doing bookwork; what a shame.  
  
“Now, let's go over a quick summary of today's Grimm; Since we’ve seen one in action this morning, I think we will start with the Boarbatusk, although that won’t always be the case.” Professor Port said cheerfully. “Let's have ourselves a little poll; what are some of the main characteristics of a Boarbatusk? Ms. Nikos.”  
  
“The substantial amount of bone plating?” Pyrrha said, smiling.  
  
“Fantastic!” Professor Port said cheerfully, “You are correct; Most people I ask tend to answer the Tusks, but the main issue is the durability. It makes it exceedingly hard for an untrained person-even with their Aura unlocked-to defeat one.”  
  
Lima started jotting things down; This was pretty different from what he was used to at Sanctum. Most of those lectures focused on killing the things, but this was an interesting perspective; which of the Grimm was most dangerous to civilians?  
  
“The Grimm that most experienced hunters think of as ‘fodder,’ ‘weak,’ or ‘not a threat,’ forget that even a single Boarbatusk is a monstrously difficult task for a regular person to survive against.” Professor Port said seriously, “Ms. Schnee here has the benefit of a Semblance that allowed her to disrupt the Grimm’s footing, and as a huntress in training, she has the skill, strength, and reflexes to accomplish such a feat with her weapon alone.”  
  
Lima studied the man closely.  
  
“The same can not be said for your average person,” Professor Port said firmly, “How does a civilian protect themselves from a Boarbatusk? She or he has not the physical strength, the Aura, or the Semblance to accomplish such a thing. Can any of you think of a way? Ms. Rose?”  
  
“U-um,” Ruby squeaked, “Superior firepower?”  
  
“While you are correct, that _is_ how we have survived for as long as we have against this endless threat.” Professor Port agreed, “An untrained civilian most likely won’t have superior firepower on hand in most cases. Anyone else? Mr. Fawn?”  
  
Teak placed his pen down and spoke up.  
  
“Cooperating in groups, and staying behind defenses.” Teak said nervously.  
  
“Correct,” Professor Port said cheerfully, “Hunters and Huntresses exist so that others do not have to worry that death sits behind every corner, hidden within every shadow-now, Boarbatusks have no ability to climb and do not have the power to break through large defensive perimeters; they _can_ , however, jump quite high, but sufficiently high walls or obstructions are enough to defend against them.”  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
The Workshop, Beacon.  
10:30 am.  
  
The workshop was a large room, benches, tools, cabinets, and a hundred different machines all littered the place. Lima recognized barely a third of them, from his own experience at Sanctum, but Beacon clearly had the funds to go all in.  
  
The Professor had been waiting silently at the front of the room as they filed in; shoulder-length dark hair and a matching bushy beard, small eyes that missed nothing studied them as they each found a bench to stand behind.  
  
After a moment, the man finally spoke up.  
  
“Welcome,” The man said evenly, “My name is Harold Mulberry.”  
  
There was a murmur as the man stopped leaning on the desk and stepped forward.  
  
“In battle, your weapons are your only friends.” Professor Mulberry said stoically, “Forge them well, and they won’t let you down. Fail to maintain them, and you’ll only be around to regret it for a little while.”  
  
Once again, Lima found his gaze drawn to Ruby, as she practically vibrated in place; she certainly seemed excited.  
  
“You have two responsibilities when you’re here, and I am available to assist with either.” Professor Mulberry said simply, “You will perform maintenance on your weapons every single time you are here, and by the end of the year, I expect you to have created a single piece of gear to aid you.”  
  
“I don’t care what it is, but the design, construction, and testing will be your responsibility.” Professor Mulberry said evenly, “If you find yourself in need of a specific resource that is not available, there are requisition forms there; fill them out with your request and put it on my desk. There is a budget allotted to each of you for additional resources, but its not much use it wisely.”  
  
Lima grinned; that was the first thing he would be doing, putting in a request for Gravity Dust.  
  
“I’ll give you all a warning; if you mess around in here, I’ll kick you out,” Professor Mulberry said indifferently. “That’s all; get to work.”  
  
Professor Mulberry turned and headed back to his own work desk without giving them another glance. Lima didn’t waste any time and headed for the requisition forms; a glass cabinet stretched across a section of one of the walls, filled with Dust, not a single Gravity Crystal to be seen. He quickly filled the form out, dropped it on the man's desk, and then headed for one of the empty benches.  
  
He wouldn’t be able to finish them, but he could make the metal casing at least.  
  
“U-um,” Teak mumbled, taking the bench beside him. “This is rather hands-off.”  
  
“It’s pretty awesome,” Lima laughed, “You guys have any idea what you want to do for your project?”  
  
“Not yet,” Lux said easily, “I’ll think of something.”  
  
“A third sword?” Claire smirked, and Lima snorted. “Nah, I have no idea.”  
  
“I don’t know either.” Teak said sheepishly, before glancing at him again. “What are you going to make Lima?”  
  
“I want some kind of grappling hook,” Lima said thoughtfully, “A wrist-mounted one, maybe; some kind of strong cable that can reel me in and retract.”  
  
“That sounds really cool,” Teak mumbled.  
  
“Could you use your Semblance through it?” Lux asked with narrow eyes.  
  
Lima just grinned.  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Dining Hall, Beacon.  
12:13 pm.  
  
“Well, thoughts?” Claire asked curiously.  
  
“Carrots are probably the worst food in history, but they are also objectively the best color.” Lima said, frowning, “It honestly makes no sense, nature is weird.”  
  
The other three gave him a strange look that he completely ignored, too busy poking the carrots on his plate with his fork.  
  
“Um, okay.” Claire said, bemused, “I meant about the teachers?”  
  
“Port is an absolute unit,” Lima said honestly, “That story about the Beowulf was awesome too-I didn’t even know that Grimm _did_ stuff like that.”  
  
“I didn't know they did things like that either,” Lux added thoughtfully, “What purpose does a Grimm have in capturing someone?”  
  
“Saving a meal for later?” Claire offered.  
  
“Except they don’t need to eat to survive,” Lux countered, “They kill things because they want to.”  
  
They fell into a momentary silence while they tried to think of a valid reason, but nothing was forthcoming.  
  
“Regardless, he definitely seems to know what he’s talking about,” Teak admitted, before shaking his head. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to have your home town destroyed by those monsters.”  
  
Lima certainly could; the thoughts of a ruined town brought to mind the ruins they had seen in the initiation test.  
  
“Teak,” Lima said curiously, “Did you end up looking up those ruins in the forest?”  
  
Teaks eyes lit up at the question, before nodding happily.  
  
“Last night; There's barely any information, but they are old enough to be part of our lost history,” Teak confessed, “There was more recent company outpost built there on top of the ruins, although it was destroyed a while ago before being moved to Mountain Glenn.”  
  
“Mountain Glenn? Didn’t that place get destroyed as well?” Claire asked curiously, “What was the name of the company?”  
  
“Merlot Industries,” Teak said thoughtfully, “There's not much information about it other than it used to be a research facility that was working on Artificial Intelligence and genetics. It’s listed as defunct now.”  
  
“Two locations, both of which were destroyed, now there's some serious bad luck,” Lima sighed. “I bet whoever paid for that was pissed.”  
  
“Doctor Merlot was the company's founder, and it’s main financial backer,” Teak revealed. “He apparently died during the fall of Mountain Glenn.”  
  
Two destroyed facilities and then killed. If the Grimm had any form of higher functioning, he could almost believe it was a concentrated attempt to get rid of the guy.  
  
“Back on track!” Claire interrupted. “Professor Port said he does missions; what do you think about that?”  
  
“U-um,” Teak mumbled.  
  
“I’m definitely going,” Lima said immediately. “Teak, I demand you make everyone go; just think-supervised killing of all the things! Is there anything better?”  
  
“Sleeping In?” Claire suggested smiling.  
  
“Joining the Beacon Sparring Tournament?” Lux grinned savagely.  
  
“Going to the library?” Teak added hesitantly.  
  
Lima pouted, staring around at the three of them in disappointment.  
  
“You three are the carrots of Remnant, only without having the decency to be nice to look at.” Lima huffed.  
  
Clair laughed.  
  
“I don’t like carrots either,” Teak said despondently.  
  
“I look _fantastic_ ,” Lux defended, “Besides, why to bother going out to fight some weakling Grimm when you could be fighting your way up the rankings?”  
  
“I don’t want to fight people,” Lima complained, “I want to kill Grimm. Hmph.”  
  
“Did you just ‘hmph?’ at me?” Lux said incredulously.  
  
“Can’t we do both?” Claire said thoughtfully, “Port’s mission schedule was early morning on Saturday and Sunday.”  
  
“Tournament matches usually happen after midday on Saturday.” Lux said immediately, “I looked it up earlier, you put your name down, and a timeslot, as well as an opponent, will be automatically chosen based on your total points-earned and removed for each win or loss.”  
  
Teak looked like he was considering it as well; he knew a lost battle when he saw one. That meant he couldn’t spend all day on the weekends in the Emerald Forest; life was tough.  
  
“I think we should do it, Lima.” Teak said quietly, “I could use the experience.”  
  
Lux was grinning triumphantly.  
  
“Teak, we are getting a divorce,” Lima pouted, and Teak flushed. “I’m taking half the squad; you can have the shit half.”  
  
Claire started laughing, and Lux narrowed her eyes at him.  
  
“Exactly, _which_ side is the shit half?” Lux demanded. “Huh?!”  
  
Lima decided it was safer to leave that one unanswered.  
  
“Hem, Hem. We have History next, with a Professor Oobleck? It’s in-Lecture Hall B.” Lima said cheerfully, “I’m excited, gang.”  
  
Lux’s yellow eyes were burning a hole in the side of his face, but he did his best to blatantly ignore her.


	10. History

Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Lecture Hall B6, Beacon.  
1:30 pm.  
  
“Ninety years ago, a small conflict on the east coast of Sanus would ignite the fuse that would lead to the world-spanning event that was the first Great War of Remnant.” Professor Oobleck said quickly, pacing about like a man possessed. “I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we do not want to start a second any time soon.”  
  
Lima watched the man curiously as he strode about the room; he seemed to have an aversion to standing still for longer than a few seconds. He also spoke so quickly that you had to actively pay attention to follow along, or you risked being left behind with every sentence.  
  
“Mantle and Mistral had already developed a tight-knit alliance of the course of several years, with Mantle having helped the settlers gain a foothold in the harsh environments of northern Anima.” Oobleck said quickly, “That alliance still has strong ties; today, as Atlas now has a military base right outside Argus.”  
  
Sage had told him when they first moved there about that alliance. The heating technology that was embedded all over Argus had originated from Atlas, along with the hard light shields that powered the cities defenses. There was supposedly even a massive robotic defense system located in that military base, although he hadn’t seen it.  
  
“So, Mistral sent forth more settlers to the islands on the east coast of Sanus and found that Vale had begun settling there already, both countries with the very same idea! Most unfortunate, of course.” Oobleck said regretfully, “So they fought over the islands, and soon that simple dispute grew larger.”  
  
It was interesting hearing the war told from the participants of what the older generation of Anima still considered, behind closed doors, ‘the enemy.’ He’d heard Sage, who was outspoken against Mistral's decision to attack, get into countless arguments over the years about it. Many kids at Sanctum had been fed a great deal of that nonsense and too proud of their families' older heritage to see past their biases.  
  
“Mantle quickly came to the defense of Mistral, and together they overwhelmed Vale, at least for the first few years of the ten-year war.” Oobleck spoke excitedly, “Vacuo, of course, wanted to remain neutral to the conflict, as they had no stake in the war, but eventually, Mantle, who had established settlements across their coast, tried to pressgang them into joining forces.”  
  
Which was when Vacuo joined Vale instead, pushing Mantle forces out of Sanus entirely.  
  
“- the battles took place on both Sanus lands, and Anima, with view few actually reaching Solitas.” Oobleck continued speedily, “It came to a violent end after the King of Vale led his army alongside Vacuo’s and decimated the alliance; it’s said that the King himself had laid waste to a large portion of the army by himself; although it’s likely an exaggeration, history is always written by the victors after all.”  
  
They had hunters back then, Lima knew, so he could see a particularly strong hunter, perhaps with a Semblance that brought them to an untouchable level; even if the King had been witnessed fighting even ten men, they would likely be enough for it to bloom into the legend that was the ‘Warrior King.’  
  
“Seventy-nine years ago, the four kingdoms met on neutral grounds; Vytal, and there they decided as one whole, on what would later become known as the ‘Vytal Peace Accords,’” Oobleck pushed his glasses up his nose and glanced around for a moment. “Now that you understand the fundamental structure of the war allow me to touch upon some of the prominent issues that we will be covering later in more depth.”  
  
The man took a sip of his drink for a moment before clearing his throat.  
  
“During the Great War, many things occurred, the most prominent one was that the number of Grimm attacks increased tenfold-I’m sure you can understand why, war begets negativity, which in turn draws forth more Grimm-So, during the many conflicts Grimm were known to attack,” Oobleck said enthusiastically, “I’m sure you’ve all heard the term, ‘The Enemy of my Enemy is my friend?’- this is where it came about, both participants would halt there battles to deal with the threat of the Grimm before returning to battle once it was gone.”  
  
Rather civilized of them, Lima couldn’t help but wonder how many people were killed by surprise attacks during these pauses.  
  
“The Grimm attacks became more frequent when food and dust rations were implemented-feeding an army is never an easy task you see-and the dust mines of Vacuo were at maximum productive capacity for a long time, but the needs of the war machine weren’t being met.” Oobleck explained, “Mantle quickly showed it’s technological superiority within several years as well, as the other lands began a desperate arms race against one another, robotics, new dust weapons, new ships, pilotable mechanized armors-they were all developed during the war.”  
  
He was entranced at the man's rapid movements around the room; it was almost as if he was trying to engage them all individually at once.  
  
“Now, I’m sure that those of you whose grandparents are still alive, perhaps even your parents have shared with you their stories about remnant before the conclusion of the Great Wars,” Oobleck said gravely, “Can anybody guess any of the other topics we will be covering based on that context?”  
  
Lima wasn’t surprised that Teak had his hand raised almost immediately; he’d see him answer several questions in their classes so far, all of which were correct.  
  
“Slavery, forced conscription, and… Faunus' rights.” Teak said, almost hesitantly at the end.  
  
“Correct!” Oobleck said the very millisecond he had stopped talking, making the boy jump in his seat. “Well done, Mr. Fawn! All three of those topics will be covered, and it will become quite apparent that they are all very intertwined with one another.”  
  
Lima’s grin slipped when he caught the muttering of a boy several rows above him; the words, ‘Animals,’ and ‘Beast,’ were both decipherable. He turned around to make a note of the person; it was one of the guys from initiation with orange/brown hair, he couldn’t remember his name in particular, but he was the guy who had been carrying a mace back in the test.  
  
“Some of the other topics will be; the history of Dust, the history of Grimm, the suppression of Art, the origin of naming conventions, the politics of the Great War, the creation of the Hunter Academies, how the Vytal Festival came about, the redistribution of territories, settlements that were lost during the war, Menagerie, and some of the surviving myths from our lost past.” Oobleck said happily, “Although if there is anything that is not covered in here, be aware that I am available outside of class hours for any questions or assistance, you need only ask.”  
  


* * *

  
Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Amphitheatre, Beacon.  
3:02 pm.  
  
Lux was practically vibrating as the four of them found seats in the ringed seats that sat above the Amphitheatre. Lima couldn’t really share her excitement; his mind felt like mush after trying to focus on Oobleck for the last hour and a half. That man spoke way too quickly, which was a shame because nearly everything the man said was interesting.  
  
“Why are you so excited, huh?” Lima groaned, “You look like you’re ready to jump down and start fighting already.”  
  
“This is great; it's our first combat lesson!” Lux said excitedly, “I can’t wait to fight someone.”  
  
Teak certainly didn’t look very excited; actually, he looked a bit sick.  
  
“Don’t worry so much, buddy,” Lima mumbled. “It’s only the first day; what's the chance you’ll have to do anything but listen to another lecture?”  
  
“Ah-you’re right,” Teak said, surprised and relieved, “I’m getting worked up over nothing.”  
  
“You looked pretty worked up back in History,” Claire snickered, “I’ve never seen you so confident.”  
  
“I wasn’t!” Teak squeaked, growing red. “I’m just more comfortable with things like that-that’s all.”  
  
Lima watched as Goodwitch stepped up onto the platform and smiled at them.  
  
“Welcome; I trust you’ve had an engaging day so far?” Goodwitch said rhetorically, “I hope you’ve still got some energy to spare- if you’re chosen today, you’re going to need it.”  
  
Teak looked worried again.  
  
“Every day from three to five, you will be undergoing various forms of sparring, combat, obstacle courses, and other forms of physical training to get you in the best possible form.” Goodwitch said firmly, “This week will be sparring-but it won’t always be-now; please connect your scrolls to the network.”  
  
Lima pulled his own out and found the network she was talking about; it was tied to a performance ranking application, along with an Aura tracker that seemed to be connected to the hard light monitor above the Amphitheatre. There was a profile page that had his name, age, year, ranking, and win/loss status.  
  
“We do not have unlimited time, and there are quite a few of you to get through, so not all of you will be fighting today,” Goodwitch said easily, “You will be randomly selected to fight one another; the matches are universal, twenty percent Aura or lower is a loss, standard rules apply.”  
  
His ranking currently said ‘N/A,’ and his Win/loss was sitting at 0/0; he was guessing that this was all to encourage competition and grant the motivation to train more.  
  
“When this room is not in use, it is available for all matches; depending on your current rank and ratio of wins and losses, you will be matched against another student. This is not limited to only this class; you are able to challenge individuals from other classes, other years.” Goodwitch said calmly, “You’ll soon find that this room is quite busy on weekends, as all those who tick the active participant box will be routinely matched against an opponent and scheduled to fight; if you do not arrive here in time for a fight, it will be classed as a forfeit. It will affect your score; any questions?”  
  
Lux immediately raised her hand.  
  
“Ms. Fulbright?” Goodwitch said, pleased.  
  
“Is there a limit to how many fights we can participate in a day?” Lux said intently, drawing a few worried gazes from nearby.  
  
“No, you can set the frequency in the menu, choose however many you think you can handle,” Goodwitch said evenly, “If you run out of Aura just before a scheduled fight, you will obviously not be able to participate.”  
  
Lux sat back, looking pleased with herself.  
  
“Very well, any further questions?” Goodwitch queried once more, “No? Very well, while in this class, you will be entered into the pool automatically, please come down when your name is called.”  
  
The two monitors above the theatre flashed into existence, and silhouetted faces flickered randomly one after another before suddenly stopping. Two portraits stared out from the screen; one was nervous, the other smirking.  
  
“Mr. Fawn and Mr. Winchester,” Goodwitch said, taking her place in the stands.  
  
“Wow, Teak,” Claire said incredulously, “The first fight?”  
  
“No fair,” Lux pouted.  
  
Teak looked horrified as he slowly stood up; the guy with the mace stood up and quickly made his way down to the pit.  
  
“-Lima..” Teak mumbled.  
  
What were the chances that he would end up fighting in the first round?  
  
“Go on, buddy; give it your best,” Lima said reassuringly. “Gameplan, his weapon is built for striking strength, so evasion is key here, don’t get into any locks, and avoid trying to block his strikes; the mace will go straight through them. Tire him out and chip away at his extended limbs after he misses.”  
  
Teak listened quietly before slowing moving towards the stairs, looking worried.  
  
“Kick his ass, Cardin!” One of the other boys called.  
  
Cardin Winchester, huh? It was the same guy from history. Teak stepped onto the arena floor like a man walking to his execution, and Cardin, with his mace, looked like the executioner. Lima felt bad for his friend; he wished he could have taken his place.  
  
The monitors showed their Aura as bars underneath their names, and a countdown timer between the two portraits ticked down from ten.  
  
“Match Start.” A mechanized female voice spoke, starting the match.  
  
“Stick his mace when the sun doesn’t shine, Teak!” Lux said gleefully.  
  
Claire started laughing, and Lima glanced at his violent teammate, incredulous.  
  
Cardin said something quietly that they couldn’t make out from the stands, but Teak flinched, and the timer hit zero. He immediately stalked towards the shorter boy confidently with his mace resting on his shoulder. Teak held his sword up in front of him and stood his ground. Cardin dragged the mace up over his head and smashed it down towards him, and Teak dove to the side to avoid it.  
  
The mace landed with a crack, and then both of the boys were moving. Teak was surprisingly fast given his lack of physical training and did his best to keep some space between them. The next swipe of Cardin’s mace, Teak ducked into range and swiped at the boy's ankle before throwing himself out of the way of the heavy weapon again. It barely missed him on the return swing, but Cardin’s Aura dropped the smallest amount.  
  
He looked furious.  
  
“Go, Teak!” Lux cheered, “Cut his feet off!”  
  
Lima gave her another unsettled glance before glancing back at the fight. Teak tried the same maneuver again, this time at Cardin’s wrist, and received a kick to the chest instead, sending him bouncing across the arena, Aura dropping by a third. That was a pretty heavy kick; Cardin was definitely a strength-based fighter.  
  
Teak didn’t attempt to engage again, and the rest of the match was a one-sided beating that ended with the shorter boy outside the arena limits, with about thirty percent of his Aura left.  
  
“Winner, Cardin; Ring out.” The same female voice spoke.  
  
Goodwitch spoke up from the stands immediately, loud enough to be heard by everyone.  
  
“Mr. Winchester, you’ve got a lot of strength behind your hits, but you overcommit too often; you don’t need to put the full force you possess behind every hit.” Goodwitch said evenly, “Otherwise, you need to work on your footwork.”  
  
Cardin looked displeased at the criticism but nodded in understanding before returning to the stands. Teak finally managed to stand up.  
  
“Mr. Fawn, you’re clearly unfamiliar with combat, you’re quite agile, and despite the gap in combat experience, you managed to land the first strike,” Goodwitch said curiously, “I suggest you take as many matches as you can to try and build up some experience.”  
  
Teak just nodded weakly, staring at the ground as he exited the arena.  
  
“Very well, “Goodwitch said easily, “Next match.”  
  
The monitors flickered back into randomized choosing before stopping. Sky Lark and Blake Belladonna. Lux let out a disgruntled noise as she was once again passed over in favor of another. Teak arrived just as the two vanished down the stairs; he sat down, refusing to look at anyone.  
  
“Good fight, Teak!” Claire said, smiling.  
  
Teak mumbled out a reply, completely inaudible, and Lima rolled his eyes at the guy before dragging him into a headlock.  
  
“Stop sulking, you little rapscallion; that first hit was perfect,” Lima grinned, knuckling his hair, making sure to avoid his ears. “You should have stabbed him in the dick, though.”  
  
“H-hey!” Teak squawked, embarrassed. “I wouldn’t do that!”  
  
“That second counter was a little bit late though, and he was expecting it, so that’s why it didn’t land,” Lima said easily, “That dude wasn’t weak, so you did pretty good, man, don’t beat yourself up over a single loss.”  
  
Teak stopped struggling when he let him loose and huffed.  
  
“You messed up my hair.” Teak mumbled, looking thoroughly distracted. “Idiot.”  
  
“Idiot?!” Lima cried at the top of his lungs, causing the boy the jump. “Does our friendship mean nothing to you?!”  
  
“S-stop it! Everyones looking,” Teak squeaked, trying to muffle him with his hand.  
  
Lima had to lean back over the armrest to avoid the hands, bumping into Lux in the attempt, who immediately yanked on the back of his hair.  
  
“Ow!” Lima complained, “Stop it, you sadist.”  
  
Lux smirked at his now upside-down face.  
  
“Get him Teak!” Claire egged him on, much to his embarrassment. “Give him the old dick stab!”  
  
Teak groaned embarrassedly before he folded his arms and sat back pouting.  
  
Blake and Sky appeared in the pit below, climbing up onto the arena and facing each other, and drawing everyone's attention to them. He fought his way back up to a sitting position, and Lux finally let her tight grip on his hair go.  
  
He gave her the evil eye for a moment before leaning back over to the shorter boy.  
  
“Teak,” Lima mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear.  
  
“Yeah?” Teak said just as quietly.  
  
“What did he say to you down there?” Lima said seriously.  
  
Teak was quiet for a few moments as the timer ticked down.  
  
“He said that he couldn’t believe Beacon would let in beasts like me.” Teak said softly.  
  
Lima glanced over the boy's head at where Cardin had rejoined his team on the other side of the stands. The tall boy wasn’t looking their way, so he couldn’t catch the guy's eye; he’d take some time to speak to him later. He reached out and tossed his arm around his teammate's shoulder and gave him a big smile.  
  
“Don’t worry about it, man,” Lima said, grinning, “Hey Claire, remember when he punched you in the tit? Good times.”  
  
Teak went bright red.  
  
“He was so rough,” Claire said coyly, catching on. “He doesn’t seem the type, does he?”  
  
“ _Lima_!” Teak cried, “Stop bringing it up!”  
  
The timer hit zero.


	11. Theft

Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Amphitheatre, Beacon.  
3:32 pm.  
  
The first thing Lima noted was that Blake was _fast_. Faster than both Teak and Cardin had been, but more notably, she was much, _much_ faster than Sky Lark. The green-haired boy didn't fold immediately, though; he used his halberd to keep the dark-haired girl at a distance. Her shorter blade having trouble passing his guard to get in close.  
  
Blake seemed to have some serious agility going on as well; she was practically circling the guy, striking at blind angles, and only just being rebuffed. Sky was definitely feeling the pressure, but he managed to keep his defense solid.  
  
The gap in experience was immediately noticeable; while Blake was almost methodically working her way in, Sky was stuck completely on the defensive-which he obviously noticed, then he made the mistake of trying to force himself onto the attack.  
  
He wasn't patient enough to wait for the proper opening.  
  
The swipe of his halberd, crossing in a wide arc from left to right, cut directly beneath Blake's feet as she hopped straight over the top of it and spun, slicing him three times across the torso before she landed on the ground in front of him in a crouch.  
  
The monitor above pinged as his Aura dropped to 19%.  
  
"Winner, Blake Belladonna; Aura depletion." The automated voice spoke clearly.  
  
Sky Lark looked shocked at his sudden loss, as did most of the others in the stands; it had come almost out of nowhere.  
  
"Very good, Ms. Belladonna." Goodwitch said pleased, "Your footwork is exceptional, and you show the ability to seize opportunities you see within your opponent's attacks. Well done; I'd like to see so another match before I offer any criticism."  
  
Blake smiled slightly as she moved from the arena. Weiss clapped politely, while Yang and Ruby were still hollering out encouragement as if the fight hadn't even finished.  
  
"Lux, you look like your about to jump over the railing," Claire said, amused.  
  
"Blakes _good_ ," Lux said, pleased. "I want to fight her."  
  
Lima glanced over at her and almost laughed. Claire was right; the Faunus had an excited gleam in her eye, practically vibrating in her seat.  
  
"You want to fight everyone," Claire laughed.  
  
The next match was being decided upon the monitors, which flickered before stopping.  
  
"Battle of the birds?" Teak said curiously.  
  
Lie Ren and Dove Bronzewing, he hadn't seen either of the boy's fight before; he remembered Ren from 'The Game' though. The two of them made their way down into the pit, the two boys seemingly the picture of calm.  
  
Ren seemed to be carrying a pair of matching pistols, bright green with blades curving out from underneath. Dove wielded a dark-colored sword that seemed to be split in the middle; he could just see a barrel of some kind poking out.  
  
The match began like all the others.  
  
It was immediately apparent that these two were much better matched than either of the other two pairs. Dove closed the distance immediately, striking out in a series of chest level stabs, and Ren worked his way backward away from them.  
  
Both of the boy's footwork was tightly controlled, neither impatient.  
  
Ren deflected one of the attacks to the side with his left pistol and unloaded a spray of bullets from the right one into an upward arc. Dove tilted his head back before sweeping outwards with a few quick steps, and the bullets flashed against the hard light barrier protecting the spectators drawing a few cheers.  
  
Dove stepped forward and used the angle to slide his sword towards Ren's face, grinding along the blade of the pistol. Ren jerked his own arm upwards, sending the sword strike high, before spinning under his arm, leaving him with his other weapon resting on Dove's back.  
  
Dove's Aura flickered as the continuous series of bullets dropped him to below half of his total before he managed to slide into a horizontal spin, dragging his sword up and landing a long slice along Ren's chest and neck; the solid strike left him at sixty percent.  
  
Ren took two steps backward to get out of range of the follow-up stab, but Dove switched his sword into it's ranged form seamlessly; three projectiles left the long barrel with sharp cracks, matched by the metallic screech as Ren deflected each of them before unloading his own shots back in return.  
  
Dove did another horizontal spin to reduce his size and flicked the gun out, deflecting several of the shots and sending his own in return. Ren used his left pistol to deflect the tightly clustered shots, spinning away and shooting with the other.  
  
Ren half circled the shorter boy, moving closer, and Dove matched him, switching entirely to deflecting the torrent of bullets. They met in the middle again, with a furious exchange that left both there Aura's flickering with each shallow attack.  
  
"Wow." Teak said, amazed, "They're so good!"  
  
Lima nodded in agreement; the match looked like it could go either way at this point. Dove's sword gave him an easy reach advantage, but Ren was a few hairs above the other boy in melee. The semi-automatic rifle mode was made for medium ranges, while Ren's own automatic-pistols were built for harassing at close range.  
  
The area they were fighting in didn't leave enough room for Dove to gain any significant distance to take advantage of his weapons longer range, so he was pretty much forced to fight in close range. Ren was also taking advantage of his ability to fire from two different angles at once, forcing Dove into more and more elaborate maneuvers to avoid getting his Aura wiped out by the bullets.  
  
Then Dove made a mistake, or perhaps Ren had got off a lucky shot because a stray bullet hit the boy in the foot just as he touched down again, enough to destabilize him, which slowed his next evasion down too much.  
  
Ren raked an arc of bullets up the boy's body, and his Aura dropped.  
  
"Winner, Lie Ren; Aura Depletion." The digitized voice said calmly.  
  
"Well done," Glynda said pleasantly, "A fantastic showing by both of you."  
  
Dove clapped Ren on the shoulder, and the two boys walked out of the pit together, talking quietly. The rest of the class talking loudly about the fight.  
  
"I could totally take them," Lux smirked.  
  
"Really?" Claire said curiously, "They'd both beat me for sure."  
  
Teak simply nodded his head, no doubt having the same thoughts.  
  
"Oh!" Claire said, surprised, as her picture appeared up on the monitors. “It’s my turn already!”  
  
"Yay!" Ruby cheered and hopped out of her front-row seat. "Wish me luck, Yang!”  
  
“Go get em’, Ruby!” Yang cheered.  
  
“Good luck, Claire,” Teak said happily.  
  
Claire flashed him a pretty smile before moving towards the entrance.  
  
“Aww-I’ve got two questions, Teak! When’s the wedding?” Lima crooned, “and can I be your flower girl?”  
  
Teak flushed and turned his head away with a huff, refusing to bite.  
  
Ruby was already waiting down on the platform when Claire strolled over to stand opposite her. The timer started its countdown as they took their respective stances. The timer hit zero, and Ruby vanished in a burst of petals.  
  
Lima blinked as Claire was clubbed in the stomach with the blunt end of the younger girls' massive scythe. Claire wasn’t at all prepared for the attack and was sent tumbling off the platform.  
  
“Winner, Ruby Rose: Ring Out.” The voice said pleasantly.  
  
“Holy shit,” Teak said quietly, “I couldn’t even see her move.”  
  
Lima could, there had been a smaller solid mass of petals right in the middle of the rest of them, and it had expanded back out before she had reappeared. What exactly was going on there? Was she turning _into_ petals? Or simply compressing her size somehow and hiding within the mass of petals that she could generate?  
  
He wasn’t sure, but either way, the girl was _absurdly_ fast in that petal mode.  
  
Glynda didn’t have much to say about that fight, and the two girls made their way back into the stand. Ruby bounced all the way back to her team while Claire slowly approached them, looking sheepish.  
  
“That was a rough one,” Lima said carefully, “She’s fast.”  
  
“Really, really fast.” Claire admitted, “I didn’t even realize she’d moved until I’d already been hit.”  
  
“We’ll have to practice some speed drills,” Lux said, frowned down at Ruby, “I _might_ have been able to dodge that if I’d known about it beforehand, but it wouldn’t have been a sure thing.”  
  
The comment did seem to brighten Claire back up, and she retook her seat next to Teak, nudging his shoulder playfully; the shorter boy smiled at her.  
  
“You’ll win next time.” Teak said firmly.  
  
“Aww!” Claire dragged him into a hug, and he squeaked at the sudden attack. “Thanks, Teak!”  
  
Teak mumbled something none of them could hear, looking flushed, and Claire let him go, smiling widely. Lima mouthed ‘flower girl’ at the poor guy and got a red-faced glare for his trouble.  
  
Lux laughed loudly as her own picture came up on the monitors, right next to Pyrrha Nikos.  
  
“This is great!” Lux cheered, squeezing past the three of them urgently and knocking Lima into Teak in the process.  
  
“Hey!” Lima squawked, “Watch where you are going!”  
  
Lux completely ignored the comment, already approaching the entrance eagerly. He spotted Pyrrha calmly moving towards the entrance with a pleasant smile on her face. This was going to be the highlight of the class he already knew. He had seen one of Pyrrha’s tournament fights before-the first finals she had participated in, and she had taken her opponent apart in less than a minute. He’d actually fought Lux, though, and she wasn’t anything to sneeze at either.  
  
Nora and Jaune were both cheering for their teammate, while Ren watched bemused.  
  
Lux stood on the platform working through some quick drills with her halberd-assault rifle, warming up for the fight. Pyrrha slipped her shield into her hand, followed by the short-sword that he was aware could change into a javelin or a rifle, versatile enough to cover every range.  
  
The timer ticked down to zero, and surprisingly enough, it was Pyrrha that was the first to move. Lux started towards her a second later, and they clashed with a grinding noise as Lux’s halberd sparked a path off of Pyrrha’s shield as it was deflected out wide.  
  
Pyrrha slashed twice; the first hit the handle of the Halberd as Lux pulled it inwards, and the second missed as she stepped back out of range. The sword flicked up to halt the course of the halberd, although it looked like it took a great deal more effort than it should have.  
  
Pyrrha seemed to realize something was wrong immediately as the halberd continued to press through the block. Instead, she spun, turning the contest into momentum, slipping under the long weapon and cutting Lux across the top of her thighs.  
  
Lux clicked her tongue at the hit and twirled the halberd around her before taking three quick steps towards the red-head, rotating around to build momentum. Pyrrha stepped to the side, back, and then the side again as the three consecutive attacks flashed through the space she’d been standing a second barely before.  
  
Lima watched them both carefully; it was the same thing he had seen during the tournament fight.  
  
Pyrrha was good, better than good even, in melee, he doubted there were many their age that could contest her there; it wasn’t that she was moving that much faster either-she certainly wasn’t moving as fast as Ruby had been in petal mode.  
  
Her real strength was the pace she set; in every exchange, her attacks, counters, and feints had multiple parts, each of the attacks seamlessly moved into the next, and where someone like Ren or Dove would set up a single hidden strike-Pyrrha had seemingly already planned out the next three or four moves that her opponent would do in response and unleashed a chain of debilitating strikes that the overwhelmed the opponent's ability to defend against.  
  
Lima watched as it happened over and over again; she had to have practiced those chains thousands of times for them to be so smooth. Lux was one of maybe five people in the room that he thought might be able to push her, and she was getting _destroyed_. The rapid changes in attack angles, weapon reach, and the perfect positioning were too much for her.  
  
Lux’s strikes would be deflected by the shield; the shortsword would open up her defenses, and then she would transform the weapon into its javelin form, using the greater reach to inflict several wide slashes before switching forms again, throwing off the attempt at a counter before switching _again-_  
  
The match ended a moment later with Lux panting on her knees, halberd three feet away, and Pyrrha standing tall above her, javelin hovering above her neck. Lima couldn’t help but notice that wide smile resting on Lux’s face as the match was called.  
  
“Winner, Pyrrha Nikos: Aura Depletion.” The voice said pleasantly.  
  
Half the people in the stands stood up, calling out and cheerings both of them on until Glynda finally calmed them all down.  
  
“ _Sit down_ ,” Glynda said clearly, and they finally relented, “A fantastic match, Ms. Fulbright, Ms. Nikos. I’d like to see you both when we are done here if that is acceptable?”  
  
The two girls agreed and made their way back into the stands.  
  
“That was incredible, Lux!” Teak said, amazed.  
  
“Yeah!” Claire said, grinning. “That was like watching one of the tournament finals.”  
  
Lux preened at the praise before sitting down with a smug look on her face.  
  
“You looked like you were having fun down there,” Lima smirked.  
  
“I’ll win next time,” Lux said, grinning, returning the look. “Just wait.”  
  
Lima wasn’t sure she was talking about Pyrrha anymore, but he nodded anyway.  
  
“Oh, _come on_!” Jaune complained, loud enough to be heard across the stands.  
  
Jaune’s smiling face had appeared on the monitor, right next to Weiss Schnee’s.  
  
“Hmph!” Weiss huffed, striding over to the entrance.  
  
“Just do your best, Jaune!” Pyrrha said happily.  
  
Jaune groaned as he slouched his way over to the door, arms hanging limply by his side. Lima couldn’t help but laugh at the poor guy, an impossible position. Either he wins, and Weiss hates him, or he loses, and Weiss still hates him.  
  
“You can do it, Jaune!” Ruby called out in support.  
  
“Ruby!” Weiss hissed, “You’re supposed to be cheering for _me_!”  
  
“U-um! Go, Weiss!” Ruby yelped, “Beat him up!”  
  
“Thanks a lot, Ruby,” Jaune said sullenly, from his place in the pit.  
  
Weiss shot off towards Jaune the moment the timer hit zero, and the boy let out a yelp of surprise before dragging his shield up in front of him. The white-haired girl's rapier skidded off the face of it, but she easily had enough control to turn the deflection into a return slash.  
  
Jaune’s shield was ripped out wide, and he dove to the side in an attempt to get out of her way, but she managed to catch him in the leg, sending him sprawling. The blonde boy's legs scrambled on the floor for a moment before he managed to get enough purchase to push himself back to his feet, and he swung his sword in a wide overhand arc at where the girl was once more rushing towards him.  
  
The sword slipped past the girl as she sidestepped and jaunted forward to hit him in his now open side with a series of blistering pokes that sent him stumbling backward under the merciless assault, and he lashed out in desperation with his sword once more.  
  
Weiss spun under it and hit him once more in the chest, dropping him to below the threshold.  
  
“Winner, Weiss Schnee: Aura Depletion.” The voice said pleasantly.  
  
“She’s good too,” Teak said quietly.  
  
“So Ruby, Weiss, and Blake are all ringers; I wonder if the blonde girl-uh-Yang is any good,” Lima said curiously, stumbling over her name.  
  
“She’s amazing,” Claire said honestly, “I’ve seen her in the school tournaments back at Signal; I don’t think she ever lost a fight in the final year.”  
  
Lux looked interested.  
  
“Well damn,” Lima said, surprised, glancing at her. “I wonder if-”  
  
“Lima, it’s your turn.” Teak said urgently.  
  
Lima blinked before looking up at the monitors, his incredibly handsome face beamed out of the screen.  
  
“Woohoo!” Nora cheered excitedly, bouncing over to the entrance. “It’s finally my turn!”  
  
Lima stood up with a grunt of effort and made his way through the stand towards the entrance. He offered Jaune a high five as the boy trudged up to the stands and got a weak slap in return. He gave Weiss a nod and received a huff as she passed him.  
  
“How rude,” Lima laughed.  
  
He crossed over to the platform where Nora was already waiting impatiently, swinging her massive hammer around like it weighed practically nothing. He noticed the timer started its countdown the second they were in position.  
  
“Wheres your weapon?” Nora said curiously.  
  
Lima blinked before patting himself down as if he might find it inside the pockets of the school uniform. He gave Nora a pleading look and slapped his hands together in prayer.  
  
“Oh my god, I forgot to get my weapon!” Lima cried as the timer hit zero. “Go easy on me?”  
  
“Aww,” Nora pouted, moving towards him. “That’s no fun.”  
  
Nora swung her hammer at him, intending to knock him straight off the platform in a merciful end to the battle. Lima lifted his hand, stopped the head of the hammer cold with his semblance, and then stepped forward, elbowing her in the chest.  
  
Nora stumbled back a couple of steps, suddenly without a weapon.  
  
“H-hey!” Nora said, shocked, “Give that back!”  
  
Lima flipped the hammer over and snagged the handle before pointing it at her threateningly.  
  
“Never!” Lima cried, “It’s my weapon now! Call me, Nora!”  
  
“Nooo!” Nora cried back, “I’m Nora!”  
  
“I’m going to keep it forever!” Lima cackled, starting towards her.  
  
“Ren!” Nora said in a panic.  
  
Nora dove to the side as he came after her, but he matched her jump, landing lightly in front of her and swung the hammer. Her eyes went wide as it connected with her shoulder, and he sent her flying off of the platform with a yelp as he swatted her like a baseball.  
  
“Winner, Lima Morta: Ring Out.” The voice said pleasantly.  
  
Lima did a little flourish with the hammer to show off and accidentally dropped it on the platform.  
  
“Whoops,” Lima said sheepishly, picking it up by the handle more carefully.  
  
Nora’s face was scrunched up in indignation as he handed her the weapon back; she snatched it from his hand and hugged it tightly, glaring at him.  
  
“Mine,” Nora said haughtily, before spinning on her heel and stomping away.  
  
“Well, that was something.” Glynda said dryly, “Please remember to bring your weapon next time, Mr. Morta.”  
  
“Sure!” Lima said cheerfully.


	12. Rumors

Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Dining Hall, Beacon.  
6:17 pm.  
  
“What did you guys think?” Lima asked curiously before staking another piece of pasta onto his fork. “About Beacon, I mean.”  
  
Teak looked up at the ceiling in thought, and Claire spoke up first.  
  
“I love it already,” Claire said happily, “Signal was—nice if a little bit small, but this place is just _massive_. There are so many people here too! It’s almost like a whole city or something-completely separate from Vale.”  
  
Lima nodded thoughtfully; he understood what she meant for the most part. He didn’t know what Signal was like, but Sanctum had been pretty large; there had been dozens of classes for every age group, he’d been there four years, and he doubted he’d met half the other students-hell he’d never even shared a single class with Pyrrha despite being in the same year.  
  
It said something that Beacon made Sanctum look like the _corner-store_ of schools.  
  
“Everyone here’s so pretty too,” Claire added with a pout, scrunching her face up. “It’s making me look average by comparison.”  
  
Lima _could_ have said that there’s nobody in the entire world that would mistake Claire for being the _only_ average-  
  
“Your a median at best,” Lima quipped and then yelped as she swatted him with her fork.  
  
“That’s not true, Lima.” Teak chastised, “She’s very pretty.”  
  
“Hmph.” Claire declared imperiously, giving him a superior look. “See? Thank you, Teak.”  
  
Lima managed to hide his grin and glanced over at Lux expectantly.  
  
“Beacon is more or less what I expected; I like it.” Lux admitted easily, “Claire’s right, though; there are so many people here, far more than Oscuro ever had.”  
  
Oscuro Combat School, the facility in Vacuo, that trained the young, bright eyed-quite literally in Lux’s case-warriors, who would presumably go on to Shade Academy. Lima wondered why she chose to come to Beacon; then again, it’s possible she hated the idea of living in the desert as much as he did.  
  
“This sparring tournament has me excited as well,” Lux said seriously, eyes sparkling. “We had plenty of sparring at Oscuro, but we didn’t have any kind of tournament system; I _cannot_ wait to compete.”  
  
Too bad for her, she would have to wait until the weekend. Lux moved her attention over to Teak, passing the conversational ball to him.  
  
“I like it here,” Teak said quietly, “but it’s becoming obvious that I don’t belong. I didn’t go to a combat school. I can’t fight. I didn’t have any Hunters in my family to explain all these things about the Grimm that seem so obvious to you all. I’m good at bookwork, but it’s not going to help us kill monsters. I just feel out of place.”  
  
Lima was half was through formulating an argument to explain all the ways in which he was wrong when Lux spoke up, beating him to the punch.  
  
“That’s stupid,” Lux said simply.  
  
Lima blinked; That wasn’t precisely as encouraging as his own response would have been-maybe he should speak up anyway.  
  
“S-stupid?” Teak squeaked embarrassedly.  
  
“Uhuh,” The Faunus said easily, “I don’t have any hunters in my family either, but it feels like I’ve learned more today than I have in a whole year back home-and I _did_ go to a combat school. I thought I was so far ahead of everyone around me-do you know I’d never lost a single fight at school? Not even _once_. I’ve been here for _two days,_ and I’ve already lost _two_.”  
  
Teak didn’t know what to say.  
  
“We are all still learning all of this stuff; that’s the entire point of coming here, Teak,” Lux said clearly, leaning towards him. “If you feel like you don’t know enough about the Grimm-ask us, ask the professors. Ask other students. _Ask me_! Feel like your missing something in class? Go to the library-you were _chosen_ to come to Beacon because you beat out every other person in your school. It’s only day two, Teak; you don’t get to just give up.”  
  
Teak was staring at his lap nervously, not sure how to deal with her intensity.  
  
“Need more practice fighting? Don’t want to feel out of place?” Lux said, smirking, “Get stronger and come challenge me for mine-at the top.”  
  
“Well, I think that was _supposed_ to be encouraging, but it’s the thought that counts _anyway_ ,” Claire said, bemused, nudging Teak’s shoulder with her own. “Teak, you earned your place here, just like we did. You belong here, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”  
  
Teak mumbled out an embarrassed thanks before he took a moment to steel himself. He managed to lift his head enough to make eye contact with Lux’s bright eyes, and he nodded once.  
  
“Your right, sorry.” Teak said quietly, voice firm. “I guess I was letting the stress get to me, I’ll learn what I need to, and I will get stronger-I promise.”  
  
“Good,” Lux said, pleased.  
  
Lima slapped him on the back and got a surprised squeak out of the boy at the suddenness.  
  
“Damn right, buddy.” Lima grinned, “If that fails, just punch her in the tit-”  
  
“ _Lima!_ ” Teak groaned.  
  
“-And by the way, Lux.” Lima smirked, “I’m pretty sure you meant _my_ place at the top; _I_ haven’t lost a single match-unlike somebody we know.”  
  
Lux scrunched her face up, agonized.  
  
“I will beat you,” Lux hissed dangerously, “That’s a promise.”  
  
Yikes, she was scary sometimes.  
  


* * *

Monday, 7th April 79AGW.  
Malachite’s Dorm, Beacon.  
8:12 pm.  
  
Lima watched as Lux exited the showers with a smirk, and he narrowed his eyes at the expression. Her hair was looking _exceptionally_ bright right now, almost like she’d given it a thorough wash-it made him incredibly suspicious.  
  
“Lima?” Claire said curiously, snatching his attention.  
  
“Mm?” Lima noised, “What’s up, Two-swords?”  
  
Claire scrunched her face up.  
  
“Next, that ones terrible too.” Claire declared before smiling. “Why did you want to come to Beacon? Lux wanted more competition; Teak got accepted here because he is the smartest Faunus in the _entire_ universe-”  
  
Lux mumbled something about being smart as well under her breath with a pout.  
  
“Not you too, Claire.” Teak slumped.  
  
Claire just grinned. Lima noted that she hadn’t revealed her own reasons for coming.  
  
“Tell me yours first, Metal-head.” Lima insisted, referring to her silver hair. “I want to go last, so I look cooler.”  
  
Lux snorted before she perched herself on the edge of her bed, seemingly unbothered once more.  
  
“Next! That sucks too.” Claire declared, grinning. “I asked first! Besides, I’m way cooler; _everybody_ in Beacon says so! Especially behind your back.”  
  
What a lying liar! They’d only been here for two days. Lima pouted.  
  
“Fine,” Lima huffed, “The guy who raised me, Sage, is a menace. I had a choice of either going to Sanctum-where he was being hired to be a teacher-or anywhere else-”  
  
“So, you chose anywhere else?” Claire interjected, sounding very interested. “Any reason why you came to an academy in particular? Was there a reason?”  
  
Lima studied her curiously; she seemed to be searching for something in particular-he wasn’t sure what it was, though it did seem like it was more than a passing interest.  
  
“A bunch of reasons honestly,” Lima admitted, “If anyone else asked, I’d probably just tell them the easy answer-that I hated the cold, and I _despise_ sand-but honestly? Beacon’s often spoken of as if it’s the greatest of the four academies-didn’t seem like a smart choice to choose one of the others.”  
  
Claire didn’t seem like she’d gotten the answer she was hoping for.  
  
“What about more broadly then,” Claire said vaguely, seemingly struggling. “Why come to an academy at all?”  
  
Did she want to know why he wanted to become a hunter in the first place? It seemed like a roundabout way to get there.  
  
“I need a hunter's license,” Lima said honestly. “The only way to get one is to go to an academy; it’s that simple really-at least for me.”  
  
Claire just sighed but accepted the answer with a nod.  
  
“My answers the same, I guess,” Claire said unsurely, “Beacon’s the best one.”  
  
Pretty disappointing answer given how interested she was in the subject a moment ago, but Lima decided not to press her on what might have been an idle curiosity.

* * *

  
  
Tuesday, 8th April, 79AGW.  
Lecture Hall A6, Beacon.  
8:30 Am.  
  
“I see that some of your names have already made their way into my extracurricular sessions!” Professor Port said, pleased, beaming around at them all. “I’m looking forward to the weekend already!”  
  
Despite the Professor standing center stage in the room, what drew most of the attention was the massive metal cage that sat behind the open doors. Three Beowolves snarled, growled, and rattled around inside, testing the thick metal for weakness and finding none.  
  
Port didn’t even bother raising his voice, content to chat away at them over the cacophony coming from the cage.  
  
“Well, as you can see, I’ve managed to snag these-not a Boarbatusk to be seen, unfortunately, given our theme of the week.” Professor Port said cheerfully, “Worry not, we will encounter another eventually! Now, who would like the chance to test themselves again these three?”  
  
“Were fighting all three?” Jaune said weakly, “As in, _one_ of us?”  
  
“Of course!” Professor Port laughed, “Would you like to take this one, Mr. Arc?”  
  
“Absolutely not,” Jaune said immediately, deadpanned.  
  
“Holding out for another Boarbatusk? Not to worry!” Professor Port beamed, “Show of hands please! Aha! Ms. Rose, you’ve brought your weapon with you? Fantastic.”  
  
Lima dropped his head to the desk in a slump as the job once again went to someone else. Lux patted him on the back in solidarity, but the smirk on her face spoke volumes.  
  
Ruby skipped down to the floor and spun to face the cage with a flourish-the red rectangular strip of metal went through a series of rapid changes as she swirled it above her head and took a single step forward. The massive blade of her scythe curved downwards, hovering just above the wooden floor.  
  
It gleamed once.  
  
“Go, Ruby!’ Yang cheered.  
  
The cage swung open.  
  


* * *

Tuesday, 8th April, 79AGW.  
Lecture Hall F3, Beacon.  
10:36 am.  
  
“This is ridiculous,” Weiss said firmly.  
  
“Maybe something happened?” Ruby suggested hesitantly.  
  
“Then, they should have sent someone to take over the class,” Yang said boredly, cheek resting on her fist.  
  
Lima stood up slowly, drawing the attention of the other students seated nearby, his head hung down, his gaze shadowed.  
  
“Lima? What are you-where are you going?” Teak said, confused.  
  
Lima strode down the stairs and towards the desk at the front of the lecture hall before turning to face his classmates. He flinched as he realized that there had been a slender, red-haired person standing behind everybody in class the entire time; there was no indication of how they had entered the room unseen.  
  
Like Teak, the person's features were entirely androgynous; their hair was cut short, and a smattering of freckles dusted across the person’s face. Dressed in a black turtleneck and black trousers.  
  
It was likely the teacher they had all been waiting for, ‘Stealth and Security,’ indeed.  
  
“Lima!” Weiss snapped, “Stop fooling around!”  
  
Well, he was committed at this point.  
  
“Hem, hem,” Lima pronounced before clearing his throat obnoxiously.  
  
The teacher raised an eyebrow but made no move to stop him; it was as good as an endorsement as he was likely to get. Weiss looked like she was about to explode, so he spoke up quickly, voice serious.  
  
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today,” Lima said solemnly, and Teak buried his face in his hands. “I would like to address the rumors that have been going around.”  
  
Pyrrha was covering her mouth with her hand, looking like she was witnessing a train crashing. Weiss’s fury grew with every moment he spent leaning against the desk; once again, he waited just long enough for her to start to say something before he spoke up.  
  
“It’s true; all of it.” Lima admitted, sounding apologetic, “As much as it pains me to admit it.”  
  
“What rumors?” Ruby asked sympathetically. “Are you okay, Lima? I haven’t heard anything!”  
  
Weiss turned to look at her in disbelief; even Yang smacked herself in the face as her younger sister was suckered into his nonsense. The teacher watched them with amusement, and he couldn’t believe they were letting him continue.  
  
He’d have to make it count; he doubted he would have another chance like this.  
  
“I’m not okay, Red, not really.” Lima sighed before using his hand to wipe his fringe upwards, sweeping it back like a cool guy. “It’s true what they’ve been saying-I _am_ the best looking guy in Beacon, and I do bang like a _cannon_ if you know what I mean-”  
  
Weiss’s fury was quickly turning to shock, and the rest of their expressions were equally hilarious, ranging from Yang's muffled laughter to Teaks flushed face of embarrassment-and the hundred of shades between the two.  
  
“Okay! That’s enough of that-” The teacher interrupted in alarm, scaring the crap out of the rest of the class. “You’ve all failed your first test; your situational awareness needs some serious work.”  
  
Lima grinned up at the teacher, who was now making their way down the aisle.  
  
“I totally knew you were there the entire time.” Lima lied, still grinning.  
  
“Is that why you jumped two feet in the air when you turned around?” The teacher said dryly.  
  
Damn. That was pretty embarrassing actually, and in front of all of his peers too, ouch.  
  
“Yes?” Lima laughed awkwardly; the look he got was telling. “I’ll go sit down now.”  
  
“Fantastic.” The teacher smirked before turning to face the class.  
  
Lima quickly made his way back to his seat, making sure to keep a healthy distance between Weiss and himself at all times. The way she leaned towards him threateningly was a little worrying; he wasn’t going to lie-probably his fault for mouthing the word ‘Bang’ at her, but who could really know?  
  
“My name is Anne Greene; you can call me Professor or Miss,” Professor Greene said, smiling. “We’ve got a lot to cover this year. Unfortunately for you all, a lot of it is going to be either boring or complicated computer work-Although we _will_ be engaging in practical stealth lessons both within Beacon and the surrounding forests-so you have that to look forward to.”  
  


* * *

  
Tuesday, 8th April, 79AGW.  
Lecture Hall D2, Beacon.  
1:30 pm.  
  
“It’s lovely to meet you all!” Professor Peach said excitedly. “I’ve heard good things about you from Glyn-I mean Professor Goodwitch!”  
  
Thumbelina Peach was a short woman, noticeably so. Ruby, who was likely the shortest person in class-and several years younger than the rest of them-was still a head taller than the woman.  
  
“Teak!” Lima whispered. “ _Teak!_ ”  
  
Teak was pretending not to hear him, still upset about the previous class and all the attention he had drawn to the team again. Lima could see his eye was twitching; how sneaky.  
  
“Teak, she’s short!” Lima insisted. “Really short! Teak, are you looking? _Teak!_ ”  
  
Teak kicked him in the shin under the desk as his voice grew louder, and drawing a few gazes from around them, much to his embarrassment.  
  
“I have eyes!” Teak squeaked quietly.  
  
“Is everything alright up there?” Professor Peach asked happily, beaming up at them.  
  
“Sorry, Miss!” Lima said sheepishly. “There was a bug.”  
  
“That’s alright!” Professor Peach said, still beaming, “As I was saying-Plant Studies is a class mostly dedicated to, you guessed it! The properties, use, and history of plant life across remnant-we will also be covering the various occurrences of dust in nature, and the effects it has on the environment around it.”  
  
Lima was actually pretty interested in that kind of thing-mostly the dust, really. There was a series of floating islands he’d read about, held aloft by a naturally occurring mass of Gravity Dust-the same type he used in his weapons. Atlas, the city that floated above its predecessor, was supposedly kept locked in the air with a massive quantity of the stuff.  
  
So was Amnity Arena-The thought distracted him for a moment; where was the Vytal festival being held this year anyway? He glanced over at Lux, who was paying attention to what the Professor was saying. Lux would most likely want them to participate, what with her obsession in testing herself against other hunters.  
  
Lima frowned as he envisioned the worst-case scenario; If the Vytal festival was being held in Mistral this year, he was _screwed_. That would mean he would end up having to stay at Sanctum until it was time to compete, which meant exposing himself and his classmates to Sage.  
  
A dawning horror grew inside.  
  
“Fuck.” Lima said nervously, drawing a glance from Lux.  
  
Sage had no chill whatsoever; the old bastard would immediately tell them every single embarrassing thing he’d ever done-hell he would start making shit up just to mess with him. All of his carefully maintained street cred at Beacon and his team would be ruined.  
  
It was bad enough that Pyrrha was aware of the tragedy that was his years at Haven; he glanced over at the red-haired girl, sitting calmly on the other side of the room. Had she told anyone? Lima was suddenly feeling a great deal more paranoid.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Lux mumbled, noticing something.  
  
Lima snapped his gaze over to her; this devil would cause all of their undoings if she forced them into the tournament.  
  
“Nothing,” Lima said immediately, “I’m doing fantastic, better than ever even-how _dare_ you accuse me like this!”  
  
“You’re being weirder than normal,” Lux said suspiciously.  
  
There was still hope, Lima reminded himself as he broke out in a cold sweat. The Vytal festival might be coming _here,_ for all he knew-he was going to look up where it was taking place the second he was out of arms reach of the blonde menace.  
  
If it was Mistral, he was going to have to fake his own death.


	13. Conflict

Tuesday, 8th April, 79AGW.  
Training Field B, Beacon.  
3:11 pm.  
  
Lima rejoined the group a little bit later than was acceptable.  
  
“Lima!” Teak said, surprised, “Where did you go?”  
  
Goddammit, he’d almost snuck in.  
  
“Mr. Morta, where have you been?” Professor Goodwitch said archly, glancing up from her tablet on his arrival.  
  
“Sorry, miss,” Lima said awkwardly, “I got lost, first week, and all you know?”  
  
“I might have believed that if I hadn’t seen you sneak away a few minutes ago,” Professor Goodwitch said suspiciously.  
  
Well shit, maybe he wasn’t as sneaky as he’d thought; lucky for him, he no longer had the need for secrecy-at least in this regard.  
  
“I was checking where the Vytal Festival was being held this year,” Lima said sheepishly, in a rare bout of honesty.  
  
He could practically see Lux’s face light up in understanding from where the rest of his team was standing, only meters away. He’d dodged a bullet there; it was coming to Vale this year, thank god-he ended up panicking for no reason.  
  
“Interested in participating this year?” Goodwitch said curiously, “There is going to be a lot of fourth years entering-the competition won’t be simple.”  
  
Well, he wasn’t interested in joining at all, but she _was_ the combat instructor; he might be able to get out of this without punishment. Lux was also staring at him with a gaze that might as well turn him to stone if he dared to say no.  
  
“Absolutely,” Lima said immediately, “You’ve trained us well, and now Team Malachite is going to win the entire thing, guaranteed. I’ll make you proud, Bestwitch.”  
  
He could almost feel Weiss’s outrage and did his best to keep a confident smile on his face.  
  
“I haven’t taught you anything yet,” Goodwitch said dryly, not even bothering to correct him this time. “I’ll look forward to seeing you participate then.”  
  
“Now that we are finally all here, we can get started,” Goodwitch said clearly, “Today, we will be engaging in some targeting training exercises, focused specifically around an escort and protection mission.”  
  
A simulated mission, huh?  
  
“Hunters are often tasked with escorting civilians with expertise in specific fields; usually, the tasks involved finding rare resources outside of the safe sections of the cities,” Goodwitch explained easily, “You’ve probably heard about some of the essential or in-demand plants species from Professor Peach.”  
  
Goodwitch scanned the group over the top of her glasses before continuing.  
  
“There are also times when civilian contractors are needed to scout or evaluate locations for both public and private expansions, maintenance on radio towers, irrigation, waterways and numerous other things that a hunter is most often untrained to do,” Goodwitch said pleasantly, “In this case, the Hunters are employed as a protective detail to keep the clients safe from both Grimm, and opportunistic criminals while they perform the required task.”  
  
Lima had experience with exactly one of those escorts and how badly things could spiral out of control when the Grimm become involved; it hadn’t been a pleasant memory at all.  
  
“Now, today we will be simulating those situations in microcosm, two teams will be selected to oppose one another,” Professor Goodwitch said pleased, “The defensive team will be placed at a disadvantage, as they will choose a single member of there own team to protect from being captured by the offensive team-this ‘civilian’ will not be allowed to participate in the fighting at all.”  
  
Lima already knew which team he wanted to be on, and it solved the biggest issue he was currently facing.  
  
“The mission will conclude once the civilian is captured, the defensive team is rendered unable to continue, or the offensive team is subdued,” Goodwitch said clearly, making sure they all understood the rules of engagement, “Aura is of course set to twenty-percent depletion for disqualification-now who would like to be the on the defensive teams-and please select your civilians.”  
  
“Shotgun being the civvie,” Lima called immediately, and Goodwitch noted it down on her tablet.  
  
“I’m the weakest,” Teak mumbled, “Shouldn’t I be the civilian?”  
  
“Nope, I want to show off my glam fam, can’t do that if I’m too busy kicking everyone's asses,” Lima laughed before wiggling his eyebrows. “-and yes, Teak, you’re obviously part of my harem.”  
  
Claire snorted at the ridiculous claim before noticing the flustered look on Teak's face, and it quickly turned into laughter. Lux just stared at him with narrowed eyes, apparently seeing past his distraction with relative ease.  
  
Damn.  
  
“Why don’t you want to fight?” Lux demanded. “We should have been the offensive team.”  
  
Lima scratched the back of his head for a moment before showing off his empty hands weakly.  
  
“Stop leaving your weapons in the lockers!” Lux cried in outrage. “I thought that’s why you snuck away earlier! To go get them!”  
  
“A civilian doesn’t need weapons, _idiot_!” Lima returned fire passionately, “Imagine being a hunter and not knowing that-”  
  
“Shut up!” Lux said angrily, face red. “You know what? I used all of your shampoo this morning.”  
  
Lima’s mouth dropped open in shock; that’s why her hair was looking so bright!  
  
“Motherfucker!” Lima was accused at the top of his lungs.  
  
“Mr. Morta! Please refrain from using that language in my class.” Goodwitch snapped.  
  
He flailed impotently for a moment, avoiding the woman's sharp gaze.  
  
“This isn’t over bright-eyes,” Lima mumbled. “You’ve crossed a line-prepare yourself.”  
  
“Don’t worry, I’m already prepared,” Lux smirked, “I washed my hair and everything.”  
  
This. Bitch.  
  


* * *

Tuesday, 8th April, 79AGW.  
Training Field B, Beacon.  
3:47 pm.  
  
When Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang returned, their clothing was dirty, but they also looked smug. Team Cardinal, the defensive team, didn’t look nearly as happy about the outcome. Professor Goodwitch followed them out of the forest, tapping away on her tablet.  
  
“Very good,” Goodwitch said, pleased, “A good attempt by both teams, the numbers advantage seemed to be an issue for the escort team, but you managed to keep your civilian protected for a significant amount of time even if you were eventually overcome.”  
  
“When do we get to be the offensive team?” Cardin asked, scowling.  
  
“Next Tuesday, we will be out here again; the team roles will be reversed,” Professor Goodwitch smiled, “Okay, the next two teams are Team Malachite on the defense, and-Team Juniper on the offensive.”  
  
“Hah! Dodged a bullet there; good luck with Pawpaw idiots.” Lima teased his teammates, striding over to stand next to the treeline.  
  
Pyrrha looked up at the nickname and gave them a sheepish smile; Jaune looked like he was trying to psych himself up. Ren was as tranquil as he always seemed, but Nora was-disconcertingly-staring right at him with her face scrunched up.  
  
Yikes.  
  
“Are you sure I shouldn’t be the civilian?” Teak mumbled.  
  
Claire tossed an arm around the boy's shoulder.  
  
“I don’t think it matters too much,” Claire laughed, “I mean, we are definitely going to die.”  
  
Teak gave the girl a nervous look, at her proximity or the comment Lima wasn’t sure. Lux, annoyingly enough, looked even smugger than she had before as she was dealt an immediate rematch against one of her chosen rivals.  
  
“Why couldn’t we fight a team without the invincible girl?” Teak said weakly, “Isn’t this a bit too much?”  
  
Pyrrha looked embarrassed at the comments and was holding her hands to her cheeks to hide the flush. Lima was about to add some more spice to the situation when he was viciously assaulted.  
  
“Hey!” Lima cried as Lux grabbed him by the collar and started dragging him into the forest, “I’m a civilian dammit, treat me with some dignity!”  
  
“Malachite, situate yourselves in the forest,” Professor Goodwitch said dryly, “Juniper will be sent in after you in five minutes time; fight well.”  
  
Lima pouted as Lux continued to drag him back into the trees.  
  
“What’s our plan?” Lux said seriously, “Teak?”  
  
“U-um,” Teak squeaked before shaking his head. “I need a minute to think.”  
  
They fell silent, the only sound being the footsteps and the sound of Lima’s shoes skating over the ground behind them.  
  
“We can’t win a straight-up engagement against them,” Teak said quietly, “With Lima out, Lux is our strongest fighter, and even if she fights Pyrrha, that leaves Claire and me to fight off Jaune, Ren, and Nora while trying to stop them from taking Lima.”  
  
Lux nodded but remained silent.  
  
“So straight-up combat is out; our best bet is to either stealth, an ambush, or deception.” Teak continued, eyes flashing around to study the environment.  
  
His eyes paused on the two grooves that Lima had inadvertently caused by refusing to stand up; it would lead the other team straight towards them.  
  
“I have an idea.” Teak said quietly.  
  


* * *

  
Tuesday, 8th April, 79AGW.  
Training Field B, Beacon.  
3:59 pm.  
  
Lima cracked an eye open as his scroll beeped.  
  
“This was a pretty good idea,” Lima said, impressed, “I love not having to do anything.”  
  
Teak gave a startled laugh.  
  
“That’s why you wanted to be the civilian in the first place,” Teak accused, “You forgot your bow on purpose!”  
  
“Guilty,” Lima admitted sheepishly, “But still, it seems to be working.”  
  
Teak just huffed before ducking his head.  
  
“I feel bad,” Teak confessed, “It feels like Lux and Claire had to do all the work.”  
  
“Lux will be happy either way, honestly,” Lima predicted, tapping the other boy's foot with the toe of his own. “Either it works, and she ‘beats’ Pyrrha’s team, or it fails, and she gets to fight Pyrrha’s team-you made her day, really.”  
  
Teak kicked him back with a smile.  
  
“Claire seemed pretty amused by it as well; how about when she grabbed you earlier?” Lima grinned before cupping his hand to his ear. “Oh! Is that wedding bells I hear?”  
  
“Stop trying to embarrass me,” Teak flushed, “Claire’s just friendly.”  
  
“If you say so, buddy,” Lima teased before letting him off the hook. “How long do you think this will take?”  
  
“Not too much longer; they will catch up to them long before that,” Teak admitted, “Lux wasn’t exactly running, but Juniper _will_ be.”  
  
Teak’s scroll beeped, and they both looked down at it. Each of the four members had linked their scrolls up to keep track of everybody's aura levels. Claire’s Aura just dropped by half, and within seconds it had fallen all the way down to twenty percent.  
  
“Looks like they caught up to them,” Lima snickered.  
  
“Poor Claire,” Teak mumbled nervously. “I hope she’s not mad.”  
  
“Nah,” Lima said, amused, “Give her some credit.”  
  
“Your right,” Teak said, smiling, holding his hand out. “Come on, Lima.”  
  
Lima took the offered hand and followed the shorter boy out of the treeline, only meters away. The other teams in their class were still seated around the field in groups, talking or waiting for their own turns.  
  
“They got you, huh?” Ruby said sympathetically.  
  
Lima shrugged and sat down next to her, pulling Teak down with him.  
  
“Hey!” Teak squawked, managing to catch himself.  
  
“Serves you right,” Weiss said snootily, “I overheard you earlier; you forgot your weapon again? How embarrassing.”  
  
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Yang laughed, “He did manage to get Nora, remember?”  
  
“Hmph.” Weiss huffed.  
  
Blake spoke up, one of the few times he’d heard her do so outside of direct questions.  
  
“Did you manage to defeat any of the others before they got you?” Blake said curiously.  
  
“Um,” Teak said awkwardly, looking to him for help.  
  
Lima just grinned.  
  
“Not sure really,” Lima said, smiling, “They got Claire about a minute ago; how is Lux doing?”  
  
Teak angled his scroll so they could see; Four bars signifying the Aura of each member were displayed. Claire’s bar was crossed out, signifying her defeat; Lux’s was at about sixty-percent and dropping quickly.  
  
“Is she fighting them all at once?” Ruby said, impressed.  
  
“Lux is probably having the time of her life,” Lima admitted, “She’s obsessed with fighting people.”  
  
“Sounds like someone I’d want to be friends with,” Yang said confidently. “We should all hang out sometime; last time was fun.”  
  
Ruby was staring at her sister in awe, most likely impressed by her confidence.  
  
“Sure, you can tell me all your other embarrassing secrets,” Lima said easily, “I’m totally down, Teak?”  
  
“Um, it sounds like fun.” Teak said quickly.  
  
They watched as Lux’s bar hit the threshold and was disqualified.  
  
“Unlucky,” Yang laughed. “She lasted a while, though.”  
  
“Lima,” Blake said suddenly.  
  
“Yep?” Lima said, smirking; she’d noticed.  
  
“Both of you have still have full Aura,” Blake said, frowning. “You haven’t lost yet.”  
  
Weiss snatched the scroll from his outstretched hand, and he let it go without issue.  
  
“She's onto us, Teak,” Lima stage whispered, “Quick, ask her out or something!”  
  
“ _Lima!_ ” Teak squeaked, looking at her in mortification. “I’m sorry!”  
  
Blake looked a little taken off guard by the sudden comment.  
  
“It’s fine,” Blake said, flustered.  
  
Yang started laughing as she realized what they had done.  
  
“You tricked them somehow!” Yang snickered, “Do they think you're still in the forest?”  
  
“Most likely,” Teak smiled.  
  
“Wow!” Ruby said, amazed, “Wait, what if you get in trouble?”  
  
“Why would we?” Lima studied her curiously.  
  
“Um, well because,” Ruby added, scrambling, “-You left your teammates behind? Isn’t that kind of mean?”  
  
Lima nodded in understanding, and Teak rubbed the back of his neck, looking guilty again.  
  
“We saved the civilian-which was our only stated objective,” Lima shrugged, “Obviously, we wouldn’t sacrifice our teammates in a real scenario; we aren’t that cold-blooded. Lux wanted a good fight, Claire wanted to win, Teak wanted to impress you girls-”  
  
“That’s not true!” Teak squeaked, flushing again. “Don’t listen to him!”  
  
Yang winked at the boy, and Teak just about melted into a pile of goo, stuffing his face in his hands to hide.  
  
“What did _you_ want?” Weiss said sharply.  
  
Despite the tone, it was the least amount of hostility she’d shown him in a while.  
  
“I wanted to take a nap,” Lima admitted honestly.  
  
Weiss twitched at the answer.  
  
“Oh, for the _love_ of-” Weiss snapped.  
  


* * *

  
Tuesday, 8th April, 79AGW.  
Training Field B, Beacon.  
4:07 pm.  
  
Lux and Claire were both smiling brightly, despite being entirely covered in sticks and leaves.  
  
“The conquering heroes return!” Yang called out, “These two were just telling us about your noble sacrifice-nice work.”  
  
“Thanks, Yang.” Claire laughed, “I got my ass kicked, though.  
  
Yang motioned for her to sit down, and the two girls were soon having a rapid conversation and grinning at each other.  
  
“Teak, that was the best idea ever,” Lux smirked, brushing some of her hair out of her face. “You’re definitely making all the plans from now on.”  
  
“I feel bad you had to do all the work,” Teak said, guilty, “I should have come back and helped you two.”  
  
“Hey, I agreed to the plan because I liked it,” Lux laughed, dragging the short boy into a headlock. “I don’t know why you’d feel bad; that was fun.”  
  
“How long do you think they are going to be in there?” Ruby asked curiously, “Shouldn’t someone go tell them?”  
  
Claire leaned forward for a moment, peeking around Yang.  
  
“Goodwitch found us on the walk back,” Claire said, smiling, “We told her what we were doing-she’ll bring them back if they don’t figure it out.”  
  


* * *

Unfortunately for team Juniper, they kept on diligently searching the area, and Goodwitch had to tell them what had happened.  
  
“You guys suck,” Jaune whined as he spotted them sitting on the field. “Why have you done this?”  
  
“Sorry,” Claire said, giggling. “It was pretty funny, though.”  
  
Nora was dragging her hammer behind her with a sad look on her face, while, once again, Ren looked completely unmoved by the situation. Pyrrha approached them, looking a bit embarrassed.  
  
“Pawpaw, your face is red!” Lima grinned, “Couldn’t find what you were looking for?”  
  
Pyrrha covered her cheek with her hand for a moment before laughing at her own embarrassment.  
  
“It was a good trick,” Pyrrha said happily, “Whose idea was it?”  
  
Lima immediately threw Teak under the bus.  
  
“The smartest Faunus in our class-” Lima declared; Strangely enough, Blake seemed to flinch. “-Nay! The world! The galaxy brain himself, Teak! I told you he wanted to match his wits against the Invincible Girl!”  
  
Teak flopped over onto the ground, hiding behind Lux, who patted him on the leg. Pyrrha giggled at his embarrassment.  
  
“Well done, Teak,” Pyrrha said happily, “I’ll have to take you more seriously from now on.”  
  
“Please don’t.” Teak mumbled, still hiding.  
  
“Your teammates are very skilled,” Ren said calmly, “We had quite the task in taking them down.”  
  
Lux practically preened.  
  
“I wanted to hit you with my hammer,” Nora complained.  
  
“That’s my hammer you’re talking about!” Lima argued, reaching out towards it.  
  
Nora hopped back and crossed her arms in front of her in a cross-shape, an attempt to ward him off like some kind of evil spirit.  
  
“Stay back, you demon!” Nora cried dramatically.  
  
Lima snatched his hand back wearily, feigning intense pain.  
  
“Stop that!” Lima hissed, holding his arm up to block the sight. “You’re going to give me a sunburn!”  
  
“See Ren!” Nora said gleefully, “I knew it!”  
  
The calm boy turned to glance at his friend.  
  
“I don’t think he's a demon, Nora,” Ren said, amused.  
  
“He definitely is,” Teak mumbled.  
  
“He’s not even crispy yet!” Nora cried, “We need more power!”  
  
“I’m helping!” Ruby cheered, throwing her own warding symbol up to help.  
  
Weiss just sighed.


	14. Purpose

Tuesday, April 8th, 79AGW.  
Malachite Dorms, Beacon.  
8:07 pm.  
  
“Are you seriously going to keep ignoring me?” Lux demanded. “ _Come on_! It’s only shampoo.”  
  
Lima let the words wash over him without acknowledgment before calmly lifting his hands in prayer.  
  
“The one known as Lux is an illusion; I’ve never heard the name in my life,” Lima hummed between each mantra, “Malachite is the only three-person team in Beacon; I am content.”  
  
“Teak, make him recognize my existence,” Lux insisted, dragging the shorter boy over to where he was meditating.  
  
“Um,” Teak squeaked, “If he doesn’t want to-I mean you did use it all after he asked you not to-sorry!”  
  
Lux scrunched her face up in indecision before pushing Teak onto his bed.  
  
“I want to talk about the Vytal festival,” Lux pouted, “Fix him.”  
  
Claire was ignoring the three of them entirely, both headphones in as she scrolled through her socials. Teak looked around for a moment before realizing he would get no help from her.  
  
“Why do I have to be the adult here?” Teak whined, “Lima, Lux is sorry she used all your shampoo; she will buy you a new bottle.”  
  
Lux scrunched her face up again before letting out a huff of breath and conceding.  
  
“Fine,” Lux agreed, “I’ll buy your stupid shampoo.”  
  
Lima’s tranquility was unbroken, and he spread his arms out before humming again.  
  
“Teak!” Lux demanded.  
  
“I’m trying!” Teak cried out, “This is your fault anyway! Why’d you use it in the first place?”  
  
“He said I was gross for washing my hair with soap!” Lux said, embarrassed, before glancing away. “So I washed it _properly_ -serves him right.”  
  
Lima felt his eye twitch at the comment, suddenly finding his meditation-induced-tranquility crumbling.  
  
“He’s not going to answer until _you_ apologize,” Claire said distractedly, not even glancing over. “Teak shouldn’t be apologizing for you either.”  
  
Lux fought with the decision for almost a minute before she finally surrendered.  
  
“I’m sorry I used all your shampoo,” Lux mumbled.  
  
Lima spun to face her, and his feet slapped against the floor.  
  
“Say it again!” Lima said gleefully.  
  
“I’m sorry!” Lux said, annoyed.  
  
“One more time, I wasn’t listening!” Lima cackled.  
  
“ _Sorry._ ” Lux hissed at him, yellow eyes almost glowing.  
  
“Now say uncle-” Lima yelped.  
  
Lux surged towards him in an instant and tackling him straight off the bed and onto the floor between the beds.  
  
“I’ll never say it!” Lux cried in outrage, “I said I was sorry already! Just-accept-the-apology!”  
  
Lima couldn’t believe she sought to challenge him on his home turf. He was by far the better fighter when it came to groundwork, and he quickly slipped out of her grip by using his hand as a lever before dragging her into an arm lock.  
  
Lux fought him the entire time, trying to land several punches to the body, and he absorbed them with his aura before levering her arm back into hyperextension. Lux hissed at him furiously as she struggled to retrieve her trapped limb.  
  
“Say, uncle!” Lima insisted, pulling slightly tighter. “No? Super-mega-death-arm-BREA-”  
  
“Uncle!” Lux yelped, and he let her go. “Cheater!”  
  
“It’s not my fault you suck!” Lima huffed. “Try getting good.”  
  
“I _am_ good!” Lux insisted, “Those stupid locks are cheating!”  
  
“ _Your_ cheating!” Lima said uselessly.  
  
“ _Shut up_!” Lux hissed.  
  
Teak stepped in between them with a look of worry on his face, holding his hands out hesitantly.  
  
“Can you both just stop?” Teak said nervously, glancing between the two of them.  
  
“Captain!” Lima complained, “Make her walk the plank.”  
  
“This isn’t a ship Lima,” Teak denied, “Can we just have a normal conversation now, without all the fighting?”  
  
“Fine,” Lima huffed, retaking his spot on the bed.  
  
Lux, for whatever reason, actually looked _upset_ at the interference of the fight; the crazy snake-girl probably enjoyed getting her ass kicked, and Lima couldn’t help but think he had somehow been baited into another fight.  
  
He also couldn’t help himself from mouthing uncle at her, and she bared her teeth at him in a challenge.  
  
“Why did you run away from class to check on the Vytal Festival?” Teak said pointedly, taking a seat next to him on the bed.  
  
“Oh, are we actually _talking_ again?” Claire said bemused, before tugging one of her earphones out. “Yay.”  
  
“I wanted to know where it was taking place this year,” Lima said easily, “I knew that our resident battle-obsessed snek would make us sign up, and I needed to ensure it wasn’t happening at Haven.”  
  
Lux ‘hmphed’ at the jab but didn’t look very upset by it. Claire looked moderately confused as to his reasoning. Teak seemed to make the connection pretty easily.  
  
“You thought that she would make us join, and you would end up having to go there,” Teak said, amused, “Where your guardian is currently teaching?”  
  
“Damn. Teak-you knew about my fears-I didn’t realize you were a seer,” Lima rapped, “Now that I know that I’m in the clear-ain’t no way for Sage to find me here-I’m a downright mastermind, and I play it by ear, leaving scrub fighters in tears-”  
  
Lux made it halfway across the room before Teak managed to throw himself between them again, bravely spreading his arms out and stopping her progress cold.  
  
“No more fighting in the dorms!” Teak squeaked, forcing himself to meet the girl’s gaze. “If you want to fight-go outside!”  
  
Lux stared down at him for a long moment before she smirked at the show of bravery and patted him on the head. Lima poked his tongue out at her from behind Teak and grinned at the glare he got in return before she turned and sat back down.  
  
Teak let out an inaudible sigh of relief.  
  
“So, the Vytal Festival is coming here then?” Claire said curiously, “How long till that happens?”  
  
It was one of the first things Lima had looked up as he attempted to discover Sage’s next move in the five-dimensional game of chest the two were playing, so he knew the answer off-hand.  
  
“The festival is like a week-long, really, as far as the city is concerned, but the tournament itself happens on the second of November,” Lima said easily.  
  
He flopped back on his bed to look up at the ceiling in thought.  
  
“Autumn, huh?” Claire mumbled, “Are we going to join?”  
  
Lima let his head drop off the other side of his bed and stared at the girl from his upside-down position. Something he had started to notice with Claire was that she never seemed to reveal her own opinion until after everyone else had, and even then, she sometimes slipped away without speaking up.  
  
It wasn’t that she was shy, she could give as good as any of them when it came to teasing and verbal spars, but she seemed to refrain from showcasing what she wanted until she was sure that it wouldn’t be taken poorly by the rest of them.  
  
Lima spoke up in the wake of Lux’s enthusiastic reply.  
  
“Do _you_ want to, Claire?” Lima asked curiously if she would answer.  
  
Claire hesitated for a long moment, looking at each of them, and Lima could almost see her trying to work out each of their answers in advance.  
  
“Yes,” Claire said carefully, “I want to.”  
  
“I don’t want to,” Lima said the second she had finished speaking.  
  
It was his attempt to test whether he was on the right track or not, and the way she flinched as if struck was a good a confirmation as he could have asked for.  
  
“Just kidding,” Lima added, smiling at her in apology.  
  
Claire glared at him, cheeks dusted red.  
  
Lima closed his eyes to avoid her gaze and thought; Claire didn’t like to express her opinion, not when there was a chance that one of the others might disagree or counter her. That wasn’t that unusual; honestly, he’d known a few people back at Sanctum like that.  
  
On the other hand, the others had all been the shy types, trying to fit into the group and willing to compromise on their own stances in order to do it. Claire was probably more outgoing and social than anyone else on the team-He found it strange that she had such an apparent worry of them rejecting her opinions or othering her in response to something she might say.  
  
Fear of rejection, huh? Then again, he wasn’t exactly a bastion for mental health himself, so he couldn’t really talk.  
  
“I think it could be fun?” Teak said nervously, noticing the byplay. “Maybe?”  
  
Lima had to give him points for trying.  
  
“Then it’s settled,” Lux said firmly, “We are signing up as soon as we are allowed, and we are going to win the entire thing-”  
  
Lima was already planning on how to accidentally lose his weapons in the first round; that way, he could catch up on hunting Grimm. Beacon was _busy;_ he’d barely had any free time to do anything, let alone sneak out into the forest.  
  
“Why are you smirking?” Lux demanded.  
  
Lima blanked his face and glanced over at her calmly.  
  
“Just wondering if they even let scrubs that have so many losses into such a prestigious tournament,” Lima grinned, baiting the hook.  
  
“No fighting in the dorms!” Teak squeaked as Lux knocked both boys off the bed with a savage tackle. “Lux!”  
  
“I’m-not-fighting,” Lux managed, through his hand smushing her face. “I’m-killing-him.”  
  
“I don’t think that’s allowed in the dorms either,” Claire said, annoyed. “We could always do it in the forest, less chance of them finding a body.”  
  
“Teak!” Lima cried, clinging to the boy’s arm as he tried to scramble out of the wrestle. “Our team is filled with killers, save me!”  
  


* * *

  
Wednesday, April 9th, 79AGW.  
Workshop D, Beacon.  
10:30 AM.  
  
The first thing Lima did was sketch a concept design of what he wanted.  
  
The second and third things were to completely revamp the design entirely because he realized several key problems right at the start. Luckily for him, nobody had seen those first few horror-shows.  
  
The two most important components were the Cable itself and the Retraction-Mechanism that would wind it back in as a way to save on Aura usage. He needed to use an Aura-accepting material for the cable-and it needed to be as durable as he could find.  
  
After those two things, he needed a universal connector to make hooking the cable into his arrows as fast as possible, which would then allow him to retrieve his arrows from a much longer range, for when they were outside of his gravity dust pull.  
  
The last thing he needed was some kind of body to store the components in, and he was leaning towards a wrist-mounted gauntlet or bracer of some sort. It needed to start past his wrist and end before his elbow to allow for a full range of arm movement.  
  
He sketched out a very basic design for each of the components, more like a rough shape without detail than anything else, before making a list of the things he needed to order. There was plenty of resources here to make the casing and even the retractor, but he was going to dip into his dwindling money to stretch for a higher-end material for the cable.  
  
He would have to wait for those to be delivered, but there was something he could start on right now: was the universal connector for the base of the arrows.  
  


* * *

  
Wednesday, April 9th, 79AGW.  
History, Beacon.  
2:51 PM.  
  
“Grande Rise was a household name by this point, but it wouldn’t be until three years after the end of the war that his wife, Alloy Rise eclipsed him in popularity.” Professor Oobleck said excitedly, “If the name doesn’t sound familiar to any of you-well, perhaps you should spend some more time in the library, hmm?”  
  
Lima hadn’t heard of either of them, but his own interest in historical figures lay firmly in the ancient heroes of which there wasn’t much information, and it didn’t extend much further than that- so it didn’t surprise him really.  
  
A significant number of the other students seemed to recognize the names, however, notably, Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha had perked up. Teak had nodded along with the names as well, but he seemed to know everybody the teacher mentioned.  
  
So this was the power of the galaxy-brain.  
  
“Now, the tensions were still high in the aftermath of the war, despite the treatise and the open hostilities coming to an end,” Professor Oobleck said quickly, “Most were happy to simply escape from the shadow of the war, and perhaps keep there heads down, incase another reignited.”  
  
Lima listened curiously.  
  
“Alloy Rise, however, was not one of those people who were content to fade into obscurity-not when there were so many other problems that still pervaded remnant.” Oobleck took a sip of his drink before clearing his throat and continuing. “Alloy could have picked any number of issues to deal with, she certainly had the drive, or perhaps the determination to see any one of them through-instead she chose the one that had personally affected her for most of her life-who knows what she chose?”  
  
Pyrrha’s hand was the first up, followed quickly by Weiss, Teak, and Blake.  
  
“Ms. Nikos?” Oobleck said pleasantly.  
  
“Discrimination,” Pyrrha said firmly, “Sexism in society specifically.”  
  
“Correct,” Oobleck said, pleased, “Alloy Rise made solving the discrimination of women in society her sole goal and spent her life working towards that end-it would be a dishonor to say she accomplished it alone, many people joined her cause, and she became the driving force behind the change she wanted to see in Remnant.”  
  
The man’s eyes gleamed as he dashed around the room.  
  
“That’s not to say there no longer exists elements of discrimination against women in society today-there still are, but the giant strides that we have made over the last eighty years could not have been possible without Alloy.” Professor Oobleck said firmly, “Now, before the war ended, she was practically a complete unknown-she was married to a well-known war leader certainly, but her name wouldn’t be found in any books from that time.”  
  
Oobleck looked around at them all, making sure to meet their gazes.  
  
“Can you tell me when Alloy Rise found-that allowed her to become the legendary figure she is recognized as today?” Professor Oobleck said seriously.  
  
Even Pyrrha seemed unsure of the answer to his abstract question, but surprisingly enough, it was Claire who raised her hand.  
  
“Ms. Diamond?” Oobleck said, pleased.  
  
“She found a purpose to put all her energy towards,” Claire said quietly, “Something she could believe in, and fight for, something that meant something to her personally.”  
  
“Fantastic, Ms. Diamond! Absolutely fantastic!” Professor Oobleck cried before he was off like a shot around the room, once more burning with excitement. “That’s exactly what Alloy found-a purpose, a meaning that was greater than herself, and something she could pour every ounce of herself into- some of you might have heard this term before-but on that day Alloy set out to solve discrimination, she found self-actualization and with it, she changed the world.”  
  
Lima watched the man intently.  
  
“Each and every one of you has that same potential inside you,” Professor Oobleck said firmly, “I should hope that you seek out your own purpose and see what changes _you_ can bring about.”  
  
The bell signaling the end of class rang out, and Lima blinked before glancing around as everybody began packing up. Claire was slumping in her seat, Lima noted; she also had an upset twist to her features.  
  
“You alright?” Lima asked curiously.  
  
Claire flinched and glanced at him for a long moment before nodding.  
  
“I’m fine, just not feeling it today,” Claire mumbled and slipped one of her headphones in.  
  
Lima studied her for a moment longer before nodding in acceptance-there was something upsetting her, but nobody liked someone who pushed after they told you to back off, politely or otherwise. His mind kept coming back to it, though, the conversation about why he had come to beacon and her being the only person in the class to know the answer to Ooblecks abstract.  
  
The parallel between her curiosity on what his reason for pursuing this career and her sudden mood plummet alongside the current topic was not lost on him. Claire was struggling with purpose, or perhaps a feeling of aimlessness-he didn’t know the exact specifics of it, and for all he knew, he might have been wrong-but it did seem to be the case.  
  
Lima had his own purpose already; mind you, it was chosen _for_ him when he was a child, at least that’s how he saw it-so he’d never had to deal with the search for one.  
  
Alloy Rise had practically been the embodiment of her own purpose-a crystallization of determination and competence; she had known exactly what she wanted out of life and hadn’t stopped until she found what she sought.  
  
He didn’t have the contextual experience to tell precisely how it felt to be without one; he could barely remember a time when he _hadn’t_ , but he imagined it would leave you adrift, with a dissonance between how you saw yourself and the people around you. A feeling of not belonging and a loss of connection with your peers once the disparity was discovered.  
  
Teak touched him on the shoulder, and he blinked.  
  
“Sorry, sorta zoned out for a second there,” Lima said distractedly, “What did you say?”  
  
Teak looked concerned for a moment.  
  
“I said, how did you like the class?” Teak said curiously.  
  
Well, there was only one thing he could say to such a question, wasn’t there?  
  
“It really got a _rise_ out of me,” Lima smirked. “If you know what I mean.”  
  
Claire groaned in disappointment, and Lux couldn’t hold back her scoff at the terrible pun.  
  
“Well, _I_ liked it.” Teak pouted.  
  
Lima smiled; for now, everything was right in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:  
> Another chapter emerges from the dark.
> 
> Update:  
> The first chapter of Just Deserts (MHA, OC) is up now.
> 
> Lame ass calls to action:  
> If you want to help me spend all of my time writing, or simply want to show some support for Reroll, check out my Patreon. If you feel like it, you could drop by and leave a comment, or review-whatever you feel like on any of the sites I post stuff on! Every bit helps. Peace!


	15. Trauma

Wednesday, 9th April, 79AGW.  
Training Field A, Beacon.  
3:05 pm.  
  
“I see you’re _all_ here on time today,” Professor Goodwitch said, sounding quite pleased.  
  
Lima couldn’t help but feel singled out and laughed nervously to himself, earning an amused glance from Yang, who was standing on his left alongside the rest of team RWBY.  
  
“Following the pattern we’ve established already, we will be moving onto another exercise that you will all be expected to become accustomed to over the next few months,” Glynda said pleasantly. “This time, you will be undergoing a survival-style combat simulation-do not worry, Ms. Rose, I assure you I will explain.”  
  
Ruby let her hand drop embarrassedly, earning another chuckle from Yang.  
  
“In the field, you will eventually encounter a situation that will push you to your absolute limits and beyond even that,” Professor Goodwitch said more seriously. “You’ll find yourself alone against overwhelming odds, separated from others by either circumstance or design, you will be outnumbered, and the only course of action left to you is to do everything in your power to survive even as those around you suffer.”  
  
Lima’s good humor had vanished with the explanation, as it hit a little too close to home for him, and it was the second comment in as many days that brought the same memories surging back. He found himself staring at treeline, searching for the eyes that he knew wouldn’t be there, not this close to the school anyway.  
  
“Now, in a more concrete structure that you can actually use; Today, you will be fighting as an individual, against a number of enemies, in this case, both your teammates and peers.” Glynda instructed, “Each one of you will have a chance to ‘survive’ today-the matches are unlikely to last for too long for obvious reasons. Any questions?”  
  
“How many people are on the attacking side?” Lux said curiously.  
  
“Nine of you will be participating in each round-one survivor, eight attackers,” Glynda said evenly, before turning to where Ruby had her hand raised again. “Yes, Ms. Rose?”  
  
There was a wave of excited voices at the news, but Lima still only had eyes for the tree line.  
  
“What happens when the attackers run out of aura?” Ruby said curiously.  
  
“Wow,” Teak said, impressed, “Is she planning on _winning_? Against eight people?”  
  
“I like her,” Lux laughed happily.  
  
“They will be substituted with another fresh student in the next round; we will rotate them in as needed,” Glynda said easily, “With more than twenty teams here, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue; there will be plenty of time between rounds for you to recover your aura.”  
  
There was a moment where she paused for any more questions before she turned her attention to her scroll, no doubt figuring out the order of the rounds.  
  
“Lima?” Claire said hesitantly, “Are you alright?”  
  
It was the first time since they had left a history that she had said anything unprompted, and it drew the attention of both Lux and Teak to him.  
  
“I’m fine,” Lima said evenly, not taking his eyes off the trees.  
  
“You don’t sound fine,” Claire said quietly, turning to follow his gaze.  
  
“Neither do you,” Lima said indifferently.  
  
Claire’s gaze turned avoidant for a moment before she shook her head and fell quiet.  
  
“Is there something in the trees?” Lux said, frowning.  
  
“Lima?” Teak said quietly.  
  
Lima couldn’t help the flash of annoyance that washed through him as they pushed him to answer. It wasn’t at them, not really; it was at himself for once again falling into the same spiral of negativity.  
  
It had been over a decade since it had happened, and yet he still felt like that pathetic little kid that watched his family and friends get eaten in front of him while he did nothing but watch. The same miserable kid that had done nothing to help his mother as she died.  
  
The same kid who, when it had been his time to die, had _survived_.  
  
He miraculously managed to unlock his semblance and killed the monstrous creatures in a fit of fear and anger, but by then, everyone else was already dead or dying. Why hadn’t any of the others found similar power in their moment of need? Why hadn’t his mother?  
  
Why was it him that lived?  
  
It was the question that had stalked him for years.  
  
“We’ll do it randomly for now, although depending on how each of the matches goes, I might make some adjustments next time,” Glynda instructed. “For the first round, our survivor will be Mr. Morta.”  
  
A flash of red in the trees and his gaze snapped over to it, but whatever it was vanished from sight, and he almost jumped as Teak touched him gently on the shoulder.  
  
“Lucky,” Lux said, watching him with narrow eyes, “You get to go first, huh? Sure, you’re up for this; you don’t look too good.”  
  
Lima didn’t respond, instead slowly making his way to the designated starting place in the field.  
  
“I see you’ve actually managed to remember your weapon this time,” Glynda Goodwitch said archly before turning back to her scroll. “Ms. Flora and Mr. Crait, your respective teammates will be the ones on the attacking teams.”  
  
The two teams made their way out onto the field, looking excited and kind of sheepish. Lima forced himself to turn his eyes away from the treeline and face them, two teams of four, a mixture of men and women.  
  
He didn’t recognize any of them, except for the girl with the half pink, half yellow hair; her hair had stuck out enough that he’d remember seeing her in the halls before—both from different first-year classes.  
  
“The rules are simple, Mr. Morta; your goal is to survive for exactly ten minutes, using any means possible, attack, defend, flee, deceive, you do not have to remain in the clearing, but please avoid fighting inside the school; if your aura reaches the threshold before the timer ends, the round will be over.” Glynda instructed, “Team Floral and Team Grass, your goal is to drop his aura to the threshold before the timer runs out, using any means necessary.”  
  
Lima took note of the various array of weapons, three swords of varying shapes, a spear, a thin but extremely long odachi, a staff with both tips topped with a curved blade, a pair of wrist-mounted blades, and a pair of bladed Sai.  
  
“Everybody understands the rules?” Glynda said, searching their faces for a moment. “Very well, you have one minute to prepare yourself, Mr. Morta.”  
  
Lima turned and walked into the treeline; he headed straight for where he saw the flash of red earlier and found a small red flower hanging from a vine.  
  
“Just a flower, huh?” Lima said quietly.  
  
He drew his compacted bow and expanded it to full size before moving further into the trees. His scroll beeped to alert him that the round had begun, and he ignored it, walking straight up one of the trees and standing horizontally on the side amongst the leaves.  
  
Barely five seconds later, team Floral came sprinting between the trees, searching for him. He watched them pass before notching an arrow and taking aim at the back of one of the sword-wielders. He paused for a beat before he turned and shot the leader of ‘Grass’ as he launched himself into the air towards him, spear pointed directly at him.  
  
Crait was sent flipping backward by the impact on his shoulder before he crashed into the base of a tree with a great deal of force. Lima let his semblance weaken before he slid down the tree and pushed off, heading straight towards him.  
  
Crait’s teammates intercepted him before he could reach him, and he lifted his bow, turned a sword to the side from one of the girls before snap-kicking the other boy in the face, sending him spinning to the ground.  
  
“Ash, watch out!” Crait called quickly.  
  
Lima didn’t let her escape; instead, he jaunted forward past her sword and palmed her face, lifting her off the ground and driving her into the Grass below with enough force for her Aura to flicker into visibility, already close to the threshold.  
  
Crait stumbled back to his feet and made it three steps towards him before Lima had activated the gravity dust at the end of the arrow and pulled it back towards him; he snatched it out of the air and notched it.  
  
Crait dove to the side in an attempt to avoid his shot, but he waited calmly until he landed before he let it fly, sending him back through the trees with a yelp.  
  
The fourth member made an appearance a moment later, having snuck around behind him, and struck out at his back with his twin wrist-mounted blades. Lima planted his hand on the ground and cartwheeled out of the way before heading away from where team Floral was coming towards them, having noticed the fighting.  
  
Because of the direction they were angling from, he was forced to make his way back to the field, but he managed to land two consecutive shots on the closest member of team Grass, the same boy he had kicked earlier. The guy groaned as he was taken out of the match, and his long sword-wielding teammate swayed around him as she sprinted back into the fight, joined a second later by Crait, looking wary-the boy must have had a naturally large aura pool to still be in the game by now, after two solid hits.  
  
Shots flashed around the forest floor, and he caught them on the edge of his bow, angling them down and away from him, before heading straight along the treeline to keep the last of the trees between him and the shots.  
  
He made it past team Floral before they could wrap around and cut off access to the forest again, and he circled back in ahead of them. The maneuver placed the fresh team between him and the girl who was shooting, which forced her to stop lest she hit her allies. He passed by a thick tree that blocked sight of him for a moment, and he sprinted straight upwards before launching himself into a high arc above the treeline.  
  
He twisted to face downwards, bow drawn taut.  
  
Flora, the girl with pink and yellow hair, burst out of the treeline, headed straight upwards for him, her ridiculously long odachi held at her side, she swiped at him twice the instant she was within range.  
  
Lima angled himself backward to avoid the first strike, he used the tip of his bow to angle the second strike under his legs, leaving him upside down, and his bow pointed directly at her face. He watched as her eyes widened before he adjusted his aim and shot her in the stomach.  
  
Flora vanished with a crack, and the sound of snapping branches rang out, followed by a thump as she hit the ground below. Lima used the force of the shot to send himself spinning backward and out of the way of the suddenly concentrated fire from the other attackers as it lanced upwards through the trees.  
  
He adjusted his descent to slip past the shots and kicked off the top of a tree before heading back in the direction away from them. He barely got his bow between him and the pair of bladed Sai that stabbed at his face, catching them both on the metal frame.  
  
The woman dragged his bow out of the way with a grunt of effort and spun before kicking out at him. Lima blocked the hit, but it sent him straight downwards, and then he no longer had any time to think.  
  
The double-bladed staff of another fighter cut towards his face, and he leaned back before pushing off to the side in a short hop to avoid the follow-up. The Sai wielding girl rejoined the fight a moment later, followed by another boy with a massive greatsword.  
  
He caught the greatsword by the blade, using his semblance to vanish the force behind it, and dragged him off the ground, spinning into a blistering circle to make some space. One of the girls ducked under her teammate and stabbed upwards at his face, and the strike cut a line across his Aura, and he flung the guy away from him before drawing another spike from his boxed quiver, halting the tip of the bladed staff cold with a flash of his semblance.  
  
He caught the pair of Sai on his bow, held horizontally in front of him a second later, suddenly locked into a power struggle between them.  
  
Crait stepped out from behind a tree, spear pointed at him, and two other remaining members from team Grass with the twin blades came from the other side; He was almost completely surrounded at this point.  
  
“What the hell, man?” The greatsword boy complained as he stepped back into the clearing. “How are you still going?”  
  
Lima needed to get out of the pincer, but the only direction free of most opposition was towards the field, and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t let him reenter the forest.  
  
“Well, it’s like this,” Lima said quietly.  
  
He sent a burst of his semblance forwards into his bow and crashed into the sai-wielder’s torso, coat-hangering her with force, and dashed through the gap, back towards the starting field.  
  
“Hey!” The guy with the sword squawked.  
  
“Don’t let him back into the forest!” Crait called, moving to flank him.  
  
Six left, most of which were close to aura depletion, at least he assumed so; he’d have to start pulling back on the force again. Lima resigned himself to fighting them in the open, which was going to be a headache.  
  
Abruptly he was out of the trees and sprinting across the field, he drew the attention of the class, some distance to his left, and he spotted the two eliminated members, sitting on the Grass and looking embarrassed.  
  
He angled to the side as shots rang out and feigned that he was circling wide as if he was returning to the forest once more. Crait ran parallel to the forest, keep his distance and taking potshots at him, while the other five attacks sprinted directly towards him, intent on getting back into melee and overwhelming him once more.  
  
Lima angled away again, putting the five of them between him and Crait’s fire, before stopping on a dime and heading straight back towards the group. The girl with the long sword looked shocked as he reached her, slashing out on reflex, he caught the sword on his bow bleeding the force off with his semblance and firing at the same time.  
  
Her Aura flickered into visibility as she was knocked out of the match, and she was sent tumbling backward across the Grass, clipping the girl with the bladed staff and sending her off balance. The guy with the twin blades and the Sai wielder attacked in tandem, and he spent a frantic moment trying to keep track of all four blades and was struck twice with glancing blows before he found his chance.  
  
He spun low, catching Sai-girl on the leg and sending her into a blistering rotation in the air, he shot the dual bladed boy, who actually managed to catch the spike on his crossed blades, but It did nothing to stop it; it crashed through his blades, and into his chest, dropping his Aura in an instant and sending him backward across the field from the force.  
  
Lima completed his rotation, drawing a final spike, shooting Sai-girl out of the air, and removing them both from the fight.  
  
The guy with the greatsword roared as he struck out in a combination of dangerous strikes; Lima moved backward swaying between the strikes before catching him by the arm, disrupting his balance by sliding his leg behind the guy’s foot and slamming him straight down onto his back. He had to stomp on him twice before his Aura flickered into visibility; the guy had quite a bit of it.  
  
Two left; The girl with the bladed staff looked hesitant to engage him at this point, and Crait’s Aura had to be so low that a single glancing hit would be enough to take him out, as he continued to circle around trying to get a clear shot of him.  
  
Lima slowly rotated in time with him, keeping the girl in between them; she took a deep breath, set her stance, and then came after him. He met her charge with his own, deflecting the series of flickering strikes with his bow.  
  
She suddenly twisted into a complicated flourish, both legs leaving the ground for a moment as she spun over her own weapon and struck out at him. Lima caught the first two but had to dodge to the side to avoid the third-and Crait immediately shot at him.  
  
He sprinted away from the acrobatic woman and headed towards Crait, and she followed in hot pursuit but stayed wide to allow her temporary teammate to continue firing unobstructed.  
  
He had to deflect the increasingly accurate shots as he got closer to the guy’s position, and he missed the last one as it glanced off his shoulder and took a chunk of his Aura with it. Crait spun his rifle, and it transformed into a spear the instant as he came into range.  
  
Lima sent the striking spear off course with his bow, and front kicked the tenacious boy straight back into the forest, and his Aura flickered into visibility as he was removed from the match.  
  
He drew an arrow, spun, and took aim at the last girl as she came within a meter of him before his scroll beeped, and they both stopped cold.  
  
“Match over,” The digitized voice of the scroll said pleasantly. “Time limit reached, Winner, Lima Morta.”  
  
Lima folded his bow back into it’s compacted state and walked away without a word.  
  
He’d won the match-no doubt a boost to his street cred, but he felt worse than he had in _months_ all because of a few simple words and a flash of red in the trees. Lima gritted his teeth, upset at himself for once again failing to move past it.  
  
_Fucking Grimm_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:  
> I really enjoy writing combat scenes, probably more so than anything else, and I kind of let this one get away from me a bit, so pretty much the entire chapter is a fight. You'll also have noticed by now, that I've made Beacon's intake of students each year much larger, and that is because of the suggested population sizes of the megacities that I'm going with in this story. A lot more unnamed characters are running about, there are more classes in each year, more teachers to support the increased student population etc.
> 
> I've lost an entire day of writing this week, and I'm going to blame it entirely on my birthday so I'm a little bit behind on the chapters, worry not; the experiment must continue. If you notice any glaring issues call em out and like it or hate it, tell me what you think!
> 
> Lame ass calls to action:  
> If you want me to spend more of my writing, want to help me out, or simply want to show some support for Reroll, check out my Patreon. You could drop by and leave a comment, or review-whatever you feel like on any of the sites I post stuff on!
> 
> Stay safe fam.


	16. Understanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:  
> Life is getting busy again. Enjoy.
> 
> Lame ass calls to action:  
> If you want me to spend more of my writing, want to help me out, or simply want to show some support for Reroll, check out my Patreon. You could drop by and leave a comment, or review-whatever you feel like on any of the sites I post stuff on!
> 
> Stay safe fam.

Wednesday, 9th April, 79AGW.  
Training Field A, Beacon.  
3:17 pm.  
  
“That was great!” Lux said gleefully, watching him intently. “You better be on the team chasing me; I want another go at you!”  
  
Lima just nodded without commitment as he reached them, unable to match her energy or mood.  
  
“Holy crap!” Claire said, amazed, “How did you even win that—and what the hell is up with your bow? You sent that one chick flying across the field!”  
  
Lima made an aborted motion that had begun as a shrug and ended with a shake of his head. He wondered if he could just leave without getting in trouble; he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have to fight again today.  
  
At least she seemed to have been drawn out of her funk—in turn, it seemed as if he’d absorbed her bad mood—Figures.  
  
“Fighting them all at once would have been a bad idea, so I split them up in the forest,” Lima said quietly, “When it’s your turn, you’ll need to separate them and whittle them down; people are much more reckless as a group this large, they are more confident as well, but you should be fine with your semblance.”  
  
Lima couldn’t find it in him to answer any questions about his weapon.  
  
“The more confident they are, the more likely they are to make a mistake or take a risk they aren’t prepared for,” Teak said in understanding, but he was still watching him with concern. “Lima, that was…I don’t even know.”  
  
Lima knew there was more he wanted to say, most likely about his sudden change in demeanor than the actual fight; he was glad that the shorter boy had enough tact to hold onto those questions.  
  
“Thanks,” Lima said indifferently.  
  
Goodwitch eyed him seriously for a moment before she dropped her gaze and started marking down something on her scroll; she didn’t speak up until almost five minutes had passed.  
  
“Ms. Schnee, you’ll be the second survivor,” Professor Goodwitch said slowly, still tapping away on her scroll.  
  
Weiss stood up before separating from her team and then made her way out to the designated spot as the two other teams were selected.  
  
“This is bullshit; when is it my turn?” Lux demanded, looking annoyed. “Why can’t I ever go first?”  
  
Goodwitch delivered the same line as she had when it was his turn, explaining her one-minute of preparation, and then following his own example, she disappeared into the forest the second she was allowed.  
  
The round started a minute later, and the two chosen teams of four, both from another class, vanished after her.  
  
“Lima?” Pyrrha said, smiling, and he leaned back onto his hands to look up at her. “You are even better than I had assumed after what happened on the train—well, it’s a shame we couldn’t see the rest of the fighting in the forest.”  
  
“Let me solve the mystery for you then, Pawpaw,” Lima mumbled, without much luster. “There was lots of running away, cheap tricks, and hiding in bushes.”  
  
Pyrrha laughed out loud.  
  
“I’m not sure I believe that—Can I ask why you never participated in the public matches back at Sanctum?” Pyrrha said happily. “From watching you disarm Nora and how you handled the group out on the field—I _know_ without a shadow of a doubt that I’ve fought people in the regionals that weren’t _half_ as good as you were today.”  
  
Lima felt his indifference start to fade at the genuinely nice girl’s words; she really wasn’t letting him get away with brushing it off, huh?  
  
“What about me?” Lux huffed.  
  
“You’re very good as well,” Pyrrha said honestly, smiling down at the blonde Faunus.  
  
Lux scratched her cheek and glanced away, looking pleased with herself. Pyrrha returned to watching him, and he sighed. Looks like he was going to have to answer after all, and here he had thought that his teammate had saved the day.  
  
“I was never into the whole tournament scene; I’m still not,” Lima admitted, “I have other priorities.”  
  
Pyrrha looked a bit disappointed in that but still nodded in understanding.  
  
“Don’t worry Pyrrha, even if you don’t end up against him in class,” Lux said smugly, “We are going to be in the Vytal Festival Tournament; you can fight him there— _if_ you manage to get through me first.”  
  
Claire snickered.  
  
“Didn’t she already kick your ass once already?” Claire said, amused. “Do you even get to say that anymore?”  
  
Lux flushed and turned on the silver-haired girl indignantly.  
  
“ _Claire_!” Lux hissed with narrowed eyes.  
  
Claire yelped as she was forced to scramble away from the upset girl. Teak squeaked as he was knocked over in the impromptu wrestling match that broke out between them.  
  
“I’d like to test myself against you either way,” Pyrrha said happily. “and I’ll admit I am looking forward to the festival.”  
  
“Pawpaw,” Lima said, faintly amused despite himself. “Isn’t that just a nicer way of saying you’re looking forward to putting the boot to my ass?”  
  
Lima could tell by the expression that bloomed on her face that he had hit the nail on the head.  
  
“You caught me,” Pyrrha admitted, sheepishly, before glancing away from him. “Sorry?”  
  
Lima couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile.  
  
“Well, how could I say no to that?” Lima offered, “Guess I’ll be seeing you in the finals.”  
  
Pyrrha smiled brilliantly.  
  


* * *

  
Wednesday, 9th April, 79AGW.  
Dorm Rooftop, Beacon.  
11:37 pm.  
  
Lima sat with his hands resting on his knees as he stared up at the shattered remains of the moon.  
  
The night sky was actually noticeably clearer here than in Argus despite the city far below, probably from the sheer elevation that the school had whilst sitting up here atop the cliff.  
  
Either way, he could see the river of stars above with more clarity than ever before, and he traced the familiar patterns in the quiet until his eyes settled on ‘The Woodsman,’ a series of seven stars that made up the rough shape of a hatchet. His continued investigation of the patterns was interrupted when he heard the quiet breathing of someone closing in behind him at a careful pace, but he made no move to address them.  
  
“I was wondering where you went, Lima,” Claire said quietly, from behind him. “Couldn’t sleep?”  
  
Lima glanced over his shoulder towards where the voice had originated from but found nothing; Claire was using her semblance to remain invisible; whatever her reason, he didn’t know.  
  
“Mm,” Lima murmured in agreement, turning his eyes back to the sky above. “Sorry if I woke you up on my way out.”  
  
“I was still awake too,” Claire admitted, sitting down directly behind him, close enough that her foot was touching his thigh. “I couldn’t sleep either.”  
  
There was a long pause as they just sat on the roof together, watching the stars. It was Claire that broke the silence once again.  
  
“I know you don’t want to talk about it; that’s pretty obvious, so you can tell me to go if you want,” Claire said hesitantly. “But if you do need someone to talk to about anything, I’ll listen; We’re teammates now.”  
  
Lima couldn’t help but be impressed by her maturity; it was much more than he could probably claim for himself on most days. He appreciated the sentiment as well, but he wasn’t exactly the type to drop his problems at the feet of others…  
  
Then again, there was no Sage here for him to vent to anymore, he needed to find someone to talk to, and if they were going to spend the next four years together—at least—it may as well be his teammates.  
  
“Let’s trade stories then,” Lima murmured, bracing himself. “Claire, today sucked donkey balls.”  
  
“It really did,” Claire agreed quietly, “What happened in practical combat today?”  
  
Lima studied the sky for another moment, leaning forward a bit and letting one of his legs straighten out in front of him. It was a pretty strange moment for him—This would be the first time he really talked like this with anyone other than Sage or Midori.  
  
“I witnessed some pretty bad stuff when I was really young, the kind of thing that messes you up—I’d rather not go into details, but my family died when I was six,” Lima said quietly, “Goodwitch said something that sounded quite a bit like what I saw back then, and a lot of those memories suddenly came to the forefront of my mind—I’m usually pretty good at not thinking about that stuff, but I’ve been a bit off lately, and I wasn’t expecting it at all, it caught me entirely off guard.”  
  
Claire remained quiet as he spoke, apparently content to listen, but he could tell by her breathing that she was still sitting behind him.  
  
“I’m not exactly in the best mental space because of it,” Lima admitted, “But it’s also not the first time I’ve had a bad day, and I’m almost certain it’s not going to be the last. So that’s my story—not a very good climax, I know—but I’m not the kind of guy to kiss and tell, you know-”  
  
Lima stopped talking in surprise as Claire slid forward a bit and wrapped her arms around his torso in a hug; he wasn’t really sure how to react to the sudden show of affection, and it derailed his attempt to wash away some of the tension.  
  
“Why are you tensing up—stop making it weird,” Claire huffed, not letting go. “It’s just a hug.”  
  
He didn’t exactly get a lot of those.  
  
“Sorry,” Lima said sheepishly, forcing himself to relax. “Your turn then, captain-cop-a-feel.”  
  
“Mine feels pretty lame now after that,” Claire mumbled into his back, ignoring the name entirely.  
  
“Doesn’t matter,” Lima said easily, leaning back into the hug. “I’m listening.”  
  
“I don’t know why I’m here,” Claire murmured. “-at Beacon.”  
  
Lima didn’t say anything; instead, he waited patiently for her to continue.  
  
“All of you have good reasons for being here,” Claire whispered, “Lux wants to be the strongest person in the world or just wants to fight everyone; Being a hunter is a step towards that. Teak worked hard to get in here; he earned his way here through high scores and hard work.”  
  
Claire shuffled forward a bit more to lean against his back more comfortably, dropping her arms to wrap loosely around his stomach.  
  
“Everything _you_ do seems to lead back around to killing Grimm; becoming a hunter, getting the license,” Claire said quietly, “I don’t have anything like that.”  
  
Lima patted one of her hands gently and waited.  
  
“My older sister designs clothing; she’s famous, and successful—owns her house as well,” Claire said hesitantly, “Mum and dad talk about her all the time; they are really proud of how she’s doing.”  
  
Claire gripped his hand before lacing their fingers together and squeezing; he squeezed back in an attempt to show support.  
  
“They always tell me stuff like that too—We’re proud of you, Claire!—all the time, but I haven’t actually done anything for them to be proud of! I’m not as _smart_ as her, I’m not as _pretty_ , or as _driven_ , successful, funny—pick anything you want, and she’s got me beat,” Claire sniffled a bit, “I wanted to do something— _anything—_ that might make me feel like I actually deserve it, something I’ve earned _._ So I can be like Astra and actually enjoy it when they say things like that—instead of feeling like..like!— _I don’t know_ , but it’s not good.”  
  
Claire was practically burying her face into his back now, and there was no way he could pretend that she wasn’t crying, and her grip on his hand had begun to shake.  
  
“Now I’m here at Beacon, training to be a huntress.” Claire whispered, “Trying to make myself feel like I’m not just pretending or trying to outshine my sister. That I can do something that Astra didn’t—or maybe this was something she _couldn’t do_ —and _every time I think it_ -”  
  
Claire sobbed once and then went tense at how loud the noise was, completely freezing for a long moment.  
  
“I’m horrible.” Claire cried softly.  
  
Lima slipped his hand out of her now loose grip and twisted before sliding his arm under her own.  
  
Claire didn’t even protest as he bodily dragged her over his lap and into the position she’d had him in barely a moment before. He pulled her back against him and stuck his chin on the top of her head, holding her tightly.  
  
He took a few moments to compose a proper response.  
  
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do something that your sister didn’t; you aren’t the first person who wanted to outdo their sibling at something, nor the first one that wants to make their parents proud, or to be recognized for it,” Lima said quietly. “That’s doesn’t make you horrible, Claire.”  
  
Claire drew in a shaky breath, and he gave her another reassuring squeeze.  
  
“Given up on nicknames?” Claire mumbled.  
  
Lima smiled into her hair; she’d shot down every single one he’d come up with; he’d let her have this one.  
  
“People are competitive, you know? It’s not abnormal or strange—even families are like that, even if a lot of them won’t admit to it,” Lima murmured, “That’s actually super normal; you aren’t doing a single thing wrong by wanting to be successful, or searching for area’s where you shine; that’s an admirable quality, and nobody expects you to have a perfect understanding of what you want to do, or what you want to be in the future.”  
  
“That’s what being young is about—seeking out the things you enjoy or are fascinated by, and moving in the direction _you_ choose—working towards the goals _you_ set yourself,” Lima said seriously, “You’re the one who gets to decide that Claire, but you don’t have to decide right _now_ —Alloy Rise, the woman from class, she didn’t find her purpose right away, and look at all the things she did.”  
  
Claire pulled one of his arms up and hugged it; he felt his knuckles resting against her cheek, he could also feel the slight wetness that was accumulating on her skin.  
  
“You’ve been accepted into one of the four most acclaimed academies in the entire world,” Lima said firmly, “That’s an accomplishment that ninety-nine percent of the world couldn’t lay claim to; _you,_ Claire Diamond, should be proud of that because it _is_ an achievement that means something, and it’s something that you worked towards, and its something that you _earned_ —regardless of what your tiny little peanut of a brain is telling you.”  
  
“I’m not a peanut-brain,” Claire mumbled, hugging his arm tighter.  
  
“What did your parents do when you told them you were accepted into Beacon?” Lima said easily, completely ignoring her protest.  
  
He leaned forward into her back and gave her another quick squeeze in reassurance.  
  
“They were really happy that I got in,” Claire said embarrassedly, before mumbling. “So was Astra.”  
  
“You’re such a dum dum,” Lima rolled his eyes, “If they were all happy you got into a Beacon, that means they were _proud_ of what you managed to do—that means it _isn’t_ empty praise, they weren’t just saying it, and you’re not just pretending.”  
  
Claire was quiet for a long moment before she let out a shaky breath again and shook her head.  
  
“You’re different right now,” Claire mumbled, playing with his hand. “Usually, you just act like a jackass.”  
  
“Why, Claire!” Lima said happily, practically bursting with positivity. “I can’t _believe_ you noticed!”  
  
“Don’t ruin it,” Claire said quietly, and he fell silent.  
  
He nodded into her hair.  
  


* * *

  
Thursday, 10th April, 79AGW.  
Dining Hall, Beacon.  
12:12 pm.  
  
“It’s because there’s so much stuff we have to do each day,” Claire smiled brightly, “I’m surprised I’m not more exhausted; honestly, Signal wasn’t half as busy.”  
  
“Was it like that at the other schools?” Teak wondered.  
  
“Sanctum was pretty busy,” Lima offered simply. “Not like this, though.”  
  
Most of that busyness had come from Sage being a bastard, but he was employed by the school at the time—so that must have counted? Lima wondered how the man was doing—if you asked him a week ago, if he would have missed him, he would have laughed out loud. Turns out he did miss the man afterall—not enough to ever think about enrolling at Haven—but enough for a call perhaps, he’d have to go ring the man when they had a day off.  
  
Lux dropped her tray down onto the table and took a seat across from him.  
  
“So it’s almost Saturday,” Lux said gleefully, “The duels are open from 9:00am to 7:00pm, so you’ll know where I am, Teak, you’re coming with me.”  
  
“I don’t think Thursday is ‘almost Saturday,’” Claire said amused.  
  
Lux huffed but continued to stare down at her other teammate.  
  
“I am?” Teak squeaked out, quailing under the intense scrutiny. “I was going to go to spend the day in the library looking up more about those ruins.”  
  
“Denied,” Lux declared, “You’re smart enough already; you heard what Goodwitch said, you need the practice.”  
  
Lima actually shared her excitement for Saturday—only in his case, it was for Professor Port’s hunting Missions, from 6:00am until midday, although you could supposedly leave whenever you wanted.  
  
“Lima-” Lux began.  
  
“Absolutely not,” Lima said immediately, crossing his arms in front of himself. “I will be spending the entire day in Emerald Forest, killing as many Grimm as Port can steer me towards.”  
  
Lux scrunched up her face as if in pain.  
  
“How am I supposed to fight you if you aren’t at the duels? I want to fight you!” Lux demanded, “Do the stupid missions on Sunday!”  
  
“ _You_ do the stupid duels on Sunday.” Lima countered, grinning. “Besides, I don’t want to wait around all day waiting for your aura to recharge after I destroy you in seconds.”  
  
“Shut up! It won’t happen like that ever again.” Lux raged. “You want to fight right now? I’ll show you exactly how much I’ve improved since then!”  
  
“Hasn’t it been like two days?” Claire laughed. “How much could you have possibly improved?”  
  
Lux turned on her in an instant, cheeks reddening in embarrassment and anger.  
  
“Claire,” Lux demanded, glaring at her. “You’re coming with Teak and me!”  
  
Claire raised her arms in surrender, still laughing.  
  
“Glad that’s settled,” Lima said cheerfully.


	17. Objectives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:  
> Life is still busy but we are making it work. A bunch of character headshots commissioned for Reroll, they look pretty awesome ngl, still planning on slapping it all together into a 'World of Reroll' styled book. won't be finished any time soon at the current rate they are coming in though, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Enjoy the chapter.
> 
> Lame ass calls to action:  
> If you want me to spend more of my writing, or working on content for Reroll or other original stuff, feel like helping me out, or simply want to show some support because you like the cut of my jib, check out my Patreon. You could drop by and leave a comment, or review-whatever you feel like on any of the sites I post stuff on!
> 
> Stay safe fam.

Thursday, 10th April, 79AGW.  
Lecture Hall D2, Beacon.  
1:49 pm.

“I hope you’re all still following along!” Professor Peach said happily, “Mr. Arc, what are the two types of pollination a flower can undergo?”  
  
Jaune frowned down at his book for a moment before speaking.  
  
“Self-pollination and cross-pollination?” Jaune said hesitantly.  
  
“Exactly!” Professor Peach exclaimed, “Explain them to me!”  
  
Jaune looked emboldened by his success and studied his book for a moment longer.  
  
“Self-pollination is when the flower gets it from another flower of the same plant,” Jaune said slowly, “Cross-pollination is from different plants?”  
  
“Correct!” Professor Peach said excitedly, “Well done, Jaune! Ms. Rose!”  
  
“Yes!” Ruby squeaked, starling upright before laughing awkwardly.  
  
“What are the two methods by which a flower can be pollinated?” Professor Peach smiled brightly.  
  
Ruby swallowed nervously and then scrunched her face up in thought.  
  
“Biotic?” Ruby said suddenly, “And, uh… _A_ biotic?”  
  
“Yes!” Professor Peach cheered. “Well done! Now, Ms...Nikos, explain them to me!”  
  
Ruby sat down with a sigh of relief, and Pyrrha took center stage.  
  
“An abiotic pollinating agent refers to the pollen being transferred via wind, or other natural occurrences.” Pyrrha said, smiling, “Biotic is the opposite, in which it is transferred by the actions of a creature, most often birds or bees.”  
  
“Fantastic!” Professor Peach said, smiling around at all of them. “Well done, Ms. Nikos—I think you might just be my favorite class! Does anyone have any questions about what we have covered today?”  
  
Lima understood what he had to do and raised his hand solemnly.  
  
“Yes—Mr. Morta?” Professor Peach said happily.  
  
“I was just wondering about the Bird’s and the Bee’s, Miss,” Lima said innocently. “My guardian told me about them once, but I forgot!”  
  
Teaks head hit the desk with a soft thump, and he groaned quietly to himself, along with half of the class, and Lime could almost feel the burning gaze of Weiss trying to set him alight from across the room.  
  
“Why are you like this?” Teak mumbled.  
  
Professor Peach’s brilliant smile practically lit up the room before she dove into the subject.  
  


* * *

  
Thursday, 10th April, 79AGW.  
Emerald Forest Assembly Area, Beacon.  
3:03 pm.  
  
Goodwitch looked up from her scroll after a moment and nodded.  
  
“Today will be both similar—and vastly different from what you have done previously,” Goodwitch explained, “You will receive no instruction from me except this; There is a time limit. Look to your scrolls; you will find your objectives listed there. If you are eliminated, return here; if the time limit runs out, return here.”  
  
“Good luck.” Goodwitch smiled, making sure to meet each of their gazes.  
  
Lima retrieved his scroll and found the objective almost immediately, along with a directional arrow. He turned and started in the direction it pointed, vanishing into the tree line—others followed, before splitting off—This clearly wasn’t a team-based exercise, as Lux, Teak, and Claire all went in different directions.  
  
The objective itself was simple, ‘Reach the destination within five minutes.’ A timed run to an unknown area in the Emerald Forest, not exactly difficult, but it was interesting none the less.  
  
The forest flashed past him as he dashed between the trees, and a few minutes passed by before he glanced down when his scroll beeped, telling him that he had completed the objective. He looked around but found nothing of note—The scroll beeped again, updating the objective.  
  
“Find a red flower.” Lima read curiously and turned back around.  
  
He’d passed by four of the things on the journey here, his eyes far too accustomed to spotting red in the dark, but they were still minutes away at least; he had better get a move on.  
  


* * *

  
He eventually located one of the flowers and plucked it from the vine, waiting for his scroll to once again update with the next objective. Whatever routine was checking his progress didn’t do it instantly; it might have actually been Goodwitch checking upon them with the camera’s spread about the forest.  
  
Eventually, his scroll updated, and he stared at it.  
  
‘Deliver the package to B.B.’  
  
“Well, I never thought I was going to become a flower delivery boy,” Lima said, bemused. “Now, who the heck is B.B?”  
  
He ran through the list of people he knew that had names starting with B and almost immediately hit upon the most likely candidate—Blake Belladonna. Lima thought back to where everybody had entered the forest; Blake had been on his left side, somewhere to the west side of the forest then, if she didn’t angle away too far for her own objective.  
  
Heading west, he used his scroll to send a message to Ruby, asking for Blake’s current location. He didn’t receive a message back for almost two minutes, and he angled further north towards the quadrant of the forest she had indicated.  
  
The power of communication—he hoped this wasn’t supposed to be a test on pure tracking capabilities, but even if it was, he should be able to argue that tracking people required the use of creative methods. Whether or not Goodwitch would accept the explanation was another matter entirely.  
  
If everybody had the same type of initial directive, find an item in the forest, and keeping in mind the high level of competence she had shown in every other class—Blake had probably already completed it and moved onto her secondary objective already. Which meant she might have moved to deliver her own item to another member of the class.  
  
He shot off another quick message asking for an updated location, and Ruby instead sent him her teammate’s number. He took a moment to place it in his own scroll before shooting her a message.  
  
‘Objective deliver a package to B.B. Ruby supplied number. Requesting current location. – Lima.’  
  
It was possible that her own objective had been to evade his pursuit, or something of a similar nature, so if he arrived and she wasn’t found, he would have to resort to tracking her manually. He continued his journey north-west, waiting patiently.  
  
‘E7, Moving East.’ – Blake.  
  
Lima immediately angled north-east as he had just about passed her by.  
  


* * *

He spotted her eyes before anything else, standing high on a branch partially hidden by the trunk of a tree—Yellow and bright in the shadows, not unlike Lux’s eyes, actually. Lima wondered idly if Blake was a Faunus as well.  
  
Being able to see in the dark was so damn lucky.  
  
“Delivery for a Miss…Belladonna?” Lima said, squinting at an imaginary clipboard, “Gonna need a signature if you please.”  
  
He caught the eye roll before she stepped off the branch, fell halfway to the ground, and kicked off the trunk—landing neatly in front of him. Lima held out the red flower, and she took it without fanfare.  
  
“Love of my life!” Lima cried dramatically, “We’re practically married now; what are we going to name our children?”  
  
Blake snorted, dropping the flower on the ground.  
  
“I’m filing for divorce,” Blake said immediately, “It was never going to work between us.”  
  
“Ouch,” Lima laughed, “You’re right, it could never work—me a low-class Human, you a beautiful Faunus, what _was_ I thinking!”  
  
Blake flinched as if struck and stumbled back away from him.  
  
Lima’s good humor dropped in an instant, and he spun around, bow already extended and an arrow notched—but there was nothing there, just trees, leaves, and shadows.  
  
“Did you see something?” Lima said seriously, “I don’t have a visual.”  
  
Blake didn’t say anything, and he frowned, searching the area furiously.  
  
“Blake?” Lima snapped, glancing over his shoulder at her.  
  
Blake was staring at him in horror, and he hesitated before lowering his bow.  
  
“You alright, man? You look like I just stabbed you or something,” Lima said carefully, “You’re kind of freaking me out here.”  
  
Blakes scroll beeped, and she glanced down at it, the first motion she had made since he had spoken. Lima waited quietly for her to gather her bearings and checked his own scroll when it gave a similar beep.  
  
‘Escape the enemy.’  
  
He glanced back to find Blake staring at him with a hard look on her face, hand gripping her sword. Lima took a step backward, towards the edge of the small clearing. Blake’s mouth pulled back into a snarl, revealing perfectly white teeth.  
  
“Don’t move,” Blake snapped. “How—”  
  
Lima dove to the side, planting a hand flat on the ground as Blake slashed through the area he was just standing in. He pushed off the ground into the air, pressed his foot against the trunk of a tree, and dashed off into the forest.  
  
Blake followed.  
  


* * *

  
Blake was fast, Lima noted; Not as fast as Ruby—thank the gods for that— because he wouldn’t have been able to outrun her if that was the case. She was also agile, able to change direction on a dime, and had no trouble tracking him in the relatively dark forest.  
  
If the wording of the objective had been slightly vaguer, he might have fought her, but it said ‘escape’ which meant this was a test of getting away from a ‘stronger enemy,’ or an ‘unbeatable situation,’ of some kind—he couldn’t just fight his way out of this one.  
  
The thing that stood out about Blake right now, more than anything else, was that she was incredibly pissed off, and Lima had no idea what had caused it. He had only been messing around about the marriage thing, and she had even played along with the joke.  
  
Had the joke about the Human-Faunus relationship not working been too much? He had deliberately put the ‘Low-class-human’ in to soften it. It seemed like an incredibly strong reaction for such a weak joke; maybe he had hit a sore spot by accident, Blake’s berserk button, so to speak.  
  
Lima snapped his head up to the side as a black length of cord swung around a tree, and the sharp blade on the end was brought on a course straight back towards him—the unexpected attack cut a line across his Aura, barely scraping it.  
  
The attack stole most of his momentum, and he was forced to jaunt backward to avoid the follow-up stab as Blake dragged herself towards him with the cord. She planted a foot on the grass and spun, kicking out at him.  
  
Lima blocked it with his elbow before it could land on his cheek, grappled the leg, and dragged her off the ground. He spun, tossing her away from him, but the second he let go of her leg, she suddenly split into two.  
  
Blake kicked off the clone and dove backward him, sword pointed straight forward in a diving lunge.  
  
Lima stepped forwards, halting the point of her sword strike with the palm of his hand before spinning along its length. Blake’s eyes widened as they made eye contact for a moment suspended in time, only inches away, her sword overextended behind him—and then he patted her on the back.  
  
The moment vanished, and Lima tore off in the opposite direction as Blake was sent cartwheeling behind him into the forest from the force of his semblance, completely unable to halt her momentum.  
  
He didn’t look back, and by the time she had recovered, it was too late.  
  


* * *

  
Lima frowned down at his scroll as it updated once more.  
  
‘Recieve package from P.N.’  
  
He thought he was starting to understand the exercise now; it was a loop of sorts. Enter the forest, search for and locate an item, track down a target to deliver the item, fend off the betrayal and escape, then accept the item.  
  
He had participated on one side of the mission already, now he would play the part that Blake had played—most likely betraying whoever came to deliver the item and stopping them from escaping.  
  
Lima imagined that it played out like a survival game, with rotating or changing objectives—Goodwitch indicated there was a time limit, so the exercise would likely have more than one round if the participants were not eliminated fast enough.  
  
‘P.N,’ was obviously Pyrrha Nikos, and her most likely objective would be to escape from him, while his own would be to—chase her? Defeat her? Eliminate her from the round? He wasn’t sure exactly; he never got the chance to view Blake’s scroll.  
  
Because this was the second ‘loop’ of objectives, _Pyrrha_ would be aware of this as well.  
  
Well, he had nothing left to do but wait.  
  


* * *

  
He’d been completely wrong.  
  
The objectives didn’t follow an easy loop like he had assumed; they changed based on the outcomes of the previous objectives and depended on who failed and who succeeded—and it was now apparent that objectives didn’t _end_ until you either succeeded or were rendered unable to complete them.  
  
Lima watched as Pyrrha, Blake, and Ren strode through the trees below him, searching for him—Pyrrha had a white flower in her hair that hadn’t been there earlier, and Ren had a yellow one—most likely the package they were supposed to deliver.  
  
The fact that all three of them were now together was telling; either they had eliminated their opponents and were tasked with more—the pool of targets had evidently lowered enough that he now had three coming after him.  
  
That was a fight that Lima wanted exactly fuck-all to do with.  
  
He carefully pulled his scroll out and typed out a message—to Ruby.  
  
‘I still can’t find Blake; this is just silly; she’s really angry at me now because we keep missing each other? I give up. Can you just tell her my location, please, so she can come to find me? A4.’ – Lima.  
  
‘Sure!’ – Ruby.  
  
Whether or not Ruby had already been eliminated, she would most likely want to help her teammate complete her objective; with some luck, she might not have considered that he might actually be using it to manipulate her into sending them in the wrong direction. He watched as Blake checked her scroll and frowned before talking quietly to the other two and heading south—towards the fake location.  
  
He waited until they were completely out of sight and then headed East. When they discovered his ruse, they would probably assume that he sent them in the opposite direction of where he actually was, so it should buy him some more time.  
  


* * *

  
Lima grinned when his scroll beeped, showing that the exercise was finished, and to return to the assembly area. He hadn’t seen any of the others since he had messaged Ruby, and when he finally returned, he found a red-faced Ruby Rose. He waved at her—from a safe distance—making no room to come closer, although that was more because of the dangerous look that Blake was sending his way.  
  
If you could kill something just by looking at it, well, he’d be a goner—and he still had no idea what the hell had he done to deserve her apparent fury.  
  
He hadn’t been the only one to evade his pursuers either, Claire’s semblance had been practically built for this type of exercise, so she’d been able to simply vanish from sight whenever needed. Lux looked rather dirty, but she was grinning—most likely, she had let them find her just so she could attempt to fight her way out, and judging by her Aura bar, linked to the rest of the team’s scrolls, she had probably lost.  
  
Teak wandered out after everyone else, looking embarrassed, but when Lima checked, he found the guy’s Aura was completely untouched.  
  
“No luck, huh?” Lima said easily, clapping the shorter boy on the shoulder softly.  
  
“I received the ‘package,’” Teak said embarrassedly, “I couldn’t keep up with them though, and they kind of just ran away.”  
  
Lima snickered, drawing a look of consternation from him.  
  
“Sorry, buddy.” Lima said, smiling, “Looks like we are going to be practicing a lot of running in the future, huh?”  
  
Teak just nodded firmly, eyes narrowed at Lima’s obvious amusement.  
  
“What happened to you, anyway?” Lux taunted, “You get distracted chasing Grimm?”  
  
“Idiot.” Lima huffed at the accusation.  
  
“What did you call me?!” Lux snapped, grabbing him by the shirt. “You want to be my next victim, huh?”  
  
“Judging by your Aura,” Claire teased, “It looks like _you_ were the victim.”  
  
“Claire!” Lux cried in outrage, “Stop taking his side!”  
  
“I’m not!” Claire laughed.  
  
“Well done,” Goodwitch called, drawing all of their attention back to her. “As you can see, these exercises are designed to simulate changing mission parameters while you’re in the field—sometimes things aren’t as simple as delivering supplies to an outpost or defeating a single threat close to a settlement.”  
  
There were some noises of understanding and a few mutters from those that had suffered early losses.  
  
“They are also made to be rapid so that we can run you all through a series of different scenarios and hopefully instilling the need for flexibility and quick decision-making while under stress—both extremely useful traits for all Hunters and Huntresses.” Goodwitch smiled, “Now, the objectives of the next rounds will not be exactly the same as the others, so throw out any misconceptions you have of betraying allies—because it may not be the case this time.”  
  
Different objectives, different plans, acting quickly, and changing circumstances—Lima looked forward to the challenge.  
  
“I will, of course, be allowing you a fifteen-minute break between rounds so that you may recover a portion of your Aura,” Goodwitch added after a moment, “But you will not always be fresh during a mission, so expect to conserve your Aura as much as possible, efficiency is key here.”  
  
Goodwitch turned away from them, returning to working on her scroll.  
  
“Hah, can you imagine anyone being silly enough to use up all of their Aura in the first round?” Lima said teasingly, “Nah, nobody would be _that_ st-Yikes!”  
  
Lima ducked behind Teak as Lux tried to grab him by the throat in retaliation for the targeted comment, and she broke off the attack when Goodwitch looked up at them. He couldn’t help but notice Blake was still watching him with a laser focus that unnerved him.  
  
He was pretty sure it would be better to just surrender if he had her as one of his next objectives—at least until he figured out why she was now giving off some serious serial killer vibes.  
  
Better safe than inside some girl’s freezer, after all.


	18. Support

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Notes:  
> Very hard to make the Friday drop this week, but we did it. I'm going to start moving closer towards original works over fanfiction this year. I'm not sure what that looks like exactly, but I'll probably start moving the chapter drops to every second Friday for fanfiction, and bi-weekly for Reroll, that way I can start pumping out some of the million ideas I have for originals. Oh, the first chapter of Ameliorate, a $10-exclusive NSFW WIP, is now live on my Patreon.
> 
> Ameliorate Synopsis  
> A wave of energy washes over the earth, setting off an unknowable chain of occurrences and irrevocably changing every single person on the planet. Ninety-nine percent of the population is afflicted with an unmanageably violent, cannibalistic, and sexual mania. One percent of the population retains their minds. One-hundred percent of the population develops superpowers.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> \----
> 
> Lame ass calls to action:  
> If you want me to spend more of my time writing, or working on content for Reroll or other original stuff, you feel like helping me out, or you simply want to show some support because you are the bee's elbows, check out my Patreon. You could drop by and leave a comment, or review-whatever you feel like on any of the sites I post stuff on!
> 
> Stay safe fam!
> 
> Also! Happy New year!
> 
> What are you're new year's resolutions? Mines to get a bunch more tattoos and some more piercings.

Thursday, 10th April, 79AGW.  
Cliff’s Edge, Beacon.  
8:03 pm.  
  
Lima leaned back against the railing with his legs dangling off the edge of the landing zone. He looked out over the mass of water below and out towards the distant city of Vale.  
  
He’d been lucky enough that his other rounds during practical hadn’t pitted him against Blake in any meaningful way—but the laser intensity had followed him through dinner, from across the room—clearly, something he had said was unforgivable—he just didn’t know what.  
  
The exact words he had used had been Low-class-human and Beautiful-Faunus—The roles obviously flipped to take the sting out of the joke—it was supposed to be both an acknowledgment of how the Faunus were mistreated by society and a statement that he disagreed with it—hence his own role as the ‘low-class-human.’  
  
Blake clearly had the context that he was on a team with two Faunus and that he got along fine with them. So whatever the problem was, it wasn’t a surface level thing because he highly doubted that Blake thought he was saying something discriminatory. If that did turn out to be the case, he would apologize, obviously.  
  
Honestly, she was a bit intimidating, albeit in a different way from most of the others here. Every hunter or huntress was dangerous, and to think otherwise would be folly, but Blake had the air of someone who was both dangerous and experienced—and the dangers of the classroom, no matter how _Grimm_ , didn’t quite stand up it—Ren carried himself in a similar way, although not identical.  
  
There was an almost indistinct noise of booted feet on damp grass—a wet noise.  
  
Lima spun to his feet in a practiced maneuver and stilled as the yellow eyes of the exact person he was thinking about stared at him from ten meters away. They stared at each other for a long moment—Lima was considering going for that base jumping session sooner than planned.  
  
It sounded a hell of a lot more fun than defending himself from someone he had accidentally pissed off.  
  
“Did you tell anyone?” Blake said quietly.  
  
Did he tell anyone _what?_ About his shitty joke? About her reaction?  
  
“No,” Lima said carefully, trying to catch up as fast as possible. “Have you?”  
  
“Of course not.” Blake gritted out. “How long have you known about me? Before Beacon?”  
  
‘If you are lost at sea, and far from home—may as well keep on swimming, you’re bound to hit land eventually, right?’ Something he’d heard from Sage in his youth.  
  
“I’ve known all along, idiot.” Lima said confidently, “I’m surprised it took you this long to figure it out—kind of cringe, to be honest.”  
  
Blake turned her face away in an involuntary movement, of shock or unease, he wasn’t sure, but Lima kept his confident posture.  
  
“Are you an Informant, a sympathizer?—or did Adam send you?” Blake said darkly, watching him closely. “Here, I thought I’d gotten away.”  
  
Who the fuck was Adam? Lima wasn’t going to kowtow to some random guy named adam, though—he had _some_ pride.  
  
“I’ve grown beyond Adam; he never understood my greatness.” Lima said confidently, “I hold my own leash, Blake—but who holds yours?”  
  
Blake looked struck by the absolute bullshit that was coming out of his mouth—maybe Sage had been onto something after all?  
  
“Nobody holds my _leash_ anymore,” Blake said carefully, eyes narrowed. “Why are you here then, if you’ve broken away from the White Fang?”  
  
Excuse me, what the fuck? _The white fang?_  
  
That terrorist group that Teak and he had spoken about—the one where he’d literally told his teammate that the likelihood of running into one was practically zero, in a city filled with tens of millions of Faunus?  
  
Blake was a Faunus terrorist—or _used_ to be?  
  
“We aren’t here to talk about me, Blake,” Lima said gently, before turning it back on her—as if he’d called her out for a chat and she hadn’t hunted him down in the dark. “Why did _you_ break away from them?”  
  
Blake reached up and pulled the ribbon that was holding her hair flat, and Lima took note of the Faunus characteristics found there.  
  
“Adam wasn’t always like he is now,” Blake said quietly, “He’s done with peaceful methods; all he knows now is force—Our ideals don’t align anymore.”  
  
Lima nodded slowly.  
  
So whoever the heck this Adam guy was, he wanted to force the world to treat Faunus better, and Blake wanted to go a more peaceful route—he was missing far too much context to be sure of that, but he seemed to have the gist.  
  
“So you’re done with all of that terrorist nonsense now, fine—why are you here at Beacon?” Lima asked what he was most interested in. “You going to become a big shot huntress and change the world that way?”  
  
Blake flushed ever so slightly in the dark, but he noticed.  
  
“Something like that,” Blake mumbled.  
  
There were a few moments where they studied each other in the dark; Blake may have even felt comforted by the somewhat resolution—shame he had to break it.  
  
“Good for you, Blake,” Lima chirped, “Who the fuck is Adam, though? I was just saying a bunch of vague nonsense; I have no idea about any of this or even why you were so mad at me today.”  
  
“What—” Blake said, shocked. “ _What do you mean you have no idea?!_ ”  
  
“You were being super dramatic about it, so I kind of just went along with it,” Lima said awkwardly, “I thought you were mad at me for the joke earlier.”  
  
Blake was stuck between confusion and anger, unable to articulate her thoughts clearly.  
  
“You said you knew about it all along!” Blake snapped.  
  
“Yeah, I have no idea about the whole White Fang thing; I totally made that bit up—consider my mind-blown though, wow,” Lima said honestly. “How’d you fall into that kind of crowd anyway?”  
  
“Shut up!” Blake hissed, “Explain this properly!”  
  
Lima sighed but held up his hands in surrender.  
  
“Look—I didn’t know before, but I obviously do now,” Lima said placatingly, “Let’s just work from here, alright?”  
  
Blake looked like she wanted to kick him straight off the cliff, but she took a deep breath and let it out slowly—Lima nodded.  
  
“Facts: you were in the White Fang, you left because they suck balls,” Lima summarised, “Did you kill anyone?”  
  
“Of course not!” Blake said, horrified.  
  
“Cool.” Lima said carelessly, “Just don’t be a terrorist again, idiot—who’s this Adam dude anyway—is he the leader or something?”  
  
Blake looked stunned at his sheer lack of care.  
  
“He’s not the leader, but he’s still an important person in the structure,” Blake said uneasily. “Do you really not care?”  
  
“Not even the slightest,” Lima said honestly, “I was more worried about you trying to stab me while I was sleeping or something. Well, this was an entire load of nothing-burger, does Ruby know?”  
  
“Nobody knows,” Blake said quietly, observing him. “Except you.”  
  
“Yikes, you could at least try to sound like you haven’t already decided on where to dump my body.” Lima said bemused, “Ruby doesn’t seem like a person who would really care though—just saying.”  
  
“I can’t,” Blake stressed, “Do you even remember who is on my team?”  
  
Ruby, Yang, and _Oh._  
  
“I forgot about the old lady on your squad,” Lima admitted before shrugging. “I’d tell them anyway, get it out of the way now, build some trust between you all rather than spending months worrying about it. It should give them less time to build up that whole feeling of long-term betrayal as well. If they find out somewhere down the line, and they will—I mean, come on, man, you really going to wear a ribbon for the next three years? Lame.”  
  
Blake stared at him with narrow eyes.  
  
“If that was supposed to make me feel better—it didn’t,” Blake said seriously, before sighing. “You suck.”  
  
Lima snorted.  
  
“If you didn’t know about any of it,” Blake said, frowning, “How did you know I was a Faunus?”  
  
“You have bright yellow eyes—exactly like Lux,” Lima said incredulously, “They glow in the dark and everything—how am I even the first person to notice?”  
  
“You’re exaggerating,” Blake said, annoyed, “They don’t glow that much; it’s barely noticeable. So it was just a guess?”  
  
“Totally a guess.” Lima confirmed, “Pretty funny that you went and gave me your entire origin story over a misunderstanding, though—might want to pump the breaks on that one in the future.”  
  
“I hate you,” Blake groaned, pressing her face into her hands. “So much.”  
  
Lima just grinned.  
  


* * *

  
Friday, 11th April, 79AGW.  
Training Field A, Beacon.  
5:03 pm.  
  
Teak groaned tiredly, lying on his back and breathing heavy. Lux radiated an exhausted kind of happiness, even as she was covered in dirt and grime. Lima just sat back on his hands, watching them.  
  
Claire was pouting.  
  
“That was so unfair,” Claire complained, “The teams weren’t even remotely fair.”  
  
“Random _is_ random—you know. You could always complain to Goodwitch,” Lima snickered.  
  
“It’s not funny,” Teak whined, “Yang, Pyrrha, You all on one team? What kind of bullshit is that?”  
  
“It was fun—come on, Teak!” Lux cheered, dragging the short boy into a hug. “We will totally win next time!”  
  
“Hey, it’s not like you guys were alone,” Lima grumbled, “Fifteen to a side is complete chaos, though—I feel like I was hit by allies more than enemies, honestly.”  
  
“Doesn’t that sound familiar, Teak?” Claire huffed.  
  
Lux let the boy go after a moment.  
  
“I didn’t mean to!” Teak cried, “You were invisible!”  
  
Claire turned her nose up, and Teak rushed to defend himself, but she was feigning disinterest.  
  
“What happened there?” Lima smiled, “Sounds like a story.”  
  
“Nah,” Lux said easily, “Teak just tackled her by accident. Hey—the first week at Beacon, all finished; what a ride.”  
  
“You’re telling me,” Lima agreed. “Tomorrow is going to be amazing—I feel like I haven’t seen a Grimm in years.”  
  
“You see one every morning in Port’s class,” Teak smiled from his place on the ground. “Or did you mean you haven’t got to fight one yet?”  
  
“It’s bullshit!” Lima complained, “He always picks someone else—hell, he picked Yang twice; when is it going to be my turn?”  
  
He had a feeling Port just enjoyed watching somebody beat the living shit out of the Grimm with their hands—Lima had to admit that it was certainly therapeutic.  
  
“Lux, what happened to convincing him to come to the duels? You give up on that?” Claire smirked.  
  
Lux looked outraged that she had revealed her plan to the enemy.  
  
“Claire!” Lux tackled the laughing girl, and the two wrestled.  
  
“Maybe I’ll drop by after midday if you guys are still there,” Lima offered.  
  
Teak clapped his hands together in thanks, bowing his head, and Lux paused in the process of getting Claire into a headlock.  
  
“Deal,” Lux said quickly, “You better not forget.”  
  
“Now you’re just rewarding bad behavior,” Claire said smugly, still trapped. “Idiot.”  
  
“Lux pin her arms, I’ll hold her legs,” Lima cried, diving onto the girl’s feet. “Teak ready the tit-punches!”  
  
“You better not, Teak!” Claire said quickly, still laughing.  
  
“I wasn’t going to!” Teak squeaked out, embarrassed.  
  


* * *

  
The Beacon tower was an interesting feat of construction—absurdly tall, cylindrical, and massive in scale, the top of the building housed the Headmaster’s office, and somewhere beneath that room lay one of the CCT centers—Lima’s currently destination. Luckily for him, the elevator had a floor map inside, so he was able to find it without much issue.  
  
The room was as wide as the tower, with an ample amount of glass panels lining the walls, interposed with a hyper durable metal that made up the frame of the structure of the building.  
  
“How can I help you?” The woman at the desk said pleasantly.  
  
“Hi,” Lima said, smiling, “I just wanted to make a call to my guardian—he’s at Haven. Can we reach that from here?”  
  
The woman’s smile widened slightly.  
  
“Of course,” She said happily, “This center is capable of intercontinental calls; please take a card—thank you—once you’ve made your call; fill that out, and drop it back in the slot there on your way out.”  
  
“Thanks, miss,” Lima said pleasantly.  
  
He took the card and moved to one of the many consoles that were on the opposite side of the room, there weren’t many people inside, but he didn’t want to get in any trouble for bad language—this was Sage, and he was well aware that the man was capable of bringing out the absolute worst in him.  
  
The best—if you took Sage’s word.  
  
The card was a simple check sheet for analytic purposes, destination, signal quality, duration, any artifacts on the monitors, and the like. He jacked his scroll into the console and hit Sage’s number—Lima couldn’t remember what the time difference was, but it shouldn’t be too late.  
  
Sage’s grinning face appeared on the monitor, in all its wrinkled glory, and Lima couldn’t help but smile.  
  
“You’re covered in shit, Lima.” Sage said happily, “Ever heard of a shower?”  
  
Lima felt his eye twitch.  
  
“Hello to you as well, you old bastard,” Lima said, annoyed, before rolling his eyes, “I just finished practical combat.”  
  
“What did they have you doing?” Sage said curiously, “That looks like a dust burn on your sleeve.”  
  
“An exercise called ‘Warzone,’ fifteen to a side,” Lima summarised, “Pretty good training honestly, tracking so many things at once.”  
  
“Mm.” Sage nodded in agreement. “We have something similar here, three groups of eight—two full squads per team—‘Elimination.’”  
  
Lima just nodded.  
  
“Hey, I heard one of those fancy limited trains got swarmed on the way over,” Sage said suddenly, “One of yours?”  
  
“Yeah,” Lima grinned, “Giant Nevermore, the hunters assigned to the train got most of them, I picked off a couple as well—oh! Pyrrha Nikos was there too, remember her?”  
  
“Yeah, the invincible girl,” Sage barked out a laugh before rubbing his stubble, “I was wondering why she wasn’t with the rest of the first years here; we lost two of the best ones to Beacon, huh? Goddammit, Lima.”  
  
“She must have heard you were going to be the teacher, jumped on the first train out of there,” Lima smirked. “I can relate.”  
  
“Heh,” Sage grinned. “Did you hear about the Vytal Festival? It’s being held _here_ this year—”  
  
“You lying liar—I already checked!” Lima cried out triumphantly. “Nice try, idiot!”  
  
“Damn,” Sage laughed, “Did you get volunteered to participate or something? I honestly expected to get you with that one.”  
  
“One of my teammates is completely fight-obsessed; all she thinks about, and she wants to do it,” Lima grinned, “I checked online the second I remembered it.  
  
“Your participating?” Sage said, surprised before nodded approvingly, “You just doing it for your teammate? Or are you actually going to put in some work for once?”  
  
“I promised ‘The Invincible Girl’ that I would meet her in the finals—she caught me at an energetic moment,” Lima sighed. “Who are they sending to mind the Haven students that are entering the tournament? You coming to Beacon?”  
  
“Nah,” Sage said honestly, “First-year instructor remember? Barely any of them are going to go on an away tournament, Vytal festival or not—already polled them all about it, lazy little shits—reminds me of you honestly.”  
  
“Fuck off!” Lima laughed.  
  
Sage turned away from the scroll.  
  
“Sure you want to talk to this little shit? Yeah? Alright—Midori wants to chat.” Sage smiled for a moment, “Stay safe, Lima; if you need anything, you know where I am.”  
  
“Yeah, I do—Thanks, Sage.” Lima smiled, “I’ll be seeing you.”  
  
Sage winked at him before moving out of frame.  
  
“Lima?” Midori said happily, sitting down in front of Sage’s scroll and scooting forward a bit. “How have you been? What’s Beacon like?”  
  
“I’m doing pretty good, couple of mishaps here and there, but I’m still going strong. Are you still looking to enroll here?” Lima smiled, “I’ve got basically zero pull with the teachers, but if I tell them about the old bastard, they might make an exception.”  
  
“No, no!” Midori laughed, “It’s nice seeing dad again; he’s mostly up at the academy anyway—Little mishaps or the big kind?”  
  
“It’s manageable—hey! Don’t look at me like that; I’m telling the truth.” Lima argued; Midori placed her hand over the scroll for a moment, perhaps in an attempt to muffle the scroll.  
  
“Dad!” Midori giggled, “I’m not saying that—Lima’s right, you _have_ gotten mean!”  
  
“What’d he say?” Lima said curiously.  
  
Midori just shook her head smiling, and refused to tell him.  
  
“What’s your team like?” Midori prompted, “What are their names?”  
  
Lima let it slide—he’d get the old bastard back next time he saw him.  
  
“Three teammates, two girls, and a boy.” Lima rattled off, “Claire, Lux, and Teak respectively, the last two are Faunus—if you care about that stuff.”  
  
“What are they like?” Midori asked curiously. “—and what’s the rooming situation like at Beacon?”  
  
“It’s pretty much just non-stop drugs with the occasional break for sex,” Lima said happily. “Or was it the other way around? Hmm.”  
  
“Lima!” Midori laughed, “Be serious.”  
  
Lima grinned.  
  
“Four beds to a room, shared facilities, rooms big enough for a bit of space, Teak was thinking of putting up some dividers too,” Lima said thoughtfully, “Honestly, we are all pretty tired right after dinner—everyone’s just been going straight to bed.”  
  
With a few exceptions, Lima thought, he did get the occasional urge to roam about at night.  
  
“Oh!” Lima said suddenly, “They don’t even sell my shampoo here—can you believe this crap? I’ll send you some money for it, but I’m going to need like a year’s supply because I’ve apparently converted my heathen teammate to the wonders of proper haircare.”  
  
“It’s the same one I used to buy for you?” Midori giggled, glancing off-screen and laughing harder.  
  
“Yeah!” Lima said, pouting. “Tell the old bastard that maybe if he showered at all, he might still have some hair left!”  
  
He heard the muffled reply from Sage in the background, but it was too far away to hear properly.  
  
“Stop it, you two!” Midori laughed.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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Saturday, 12th April, 79AGW.  
Malachite’s Dorm, Beacon.  
4:43 am.

Lima slipped out of bed noiselessly, being careful not to wake the others. They were all pretty worn down after the week they’d had, and he didn’t want to ruin their first sleep in. He picked out a few pieces of clothing and found his towel hanging from the hook before making his way to the showers.

He opened the door and paused when it creaked, slowly opening it enough to slip inside, and as he turned his body, he caught a pair of yellow eyes watching him from the bed closest to the door. He winced and mouthed ‘sorry’ to her before shutting the door behind him.

The shower situation was honestly pretty awkward, with only a series of wall dividers adding the bare minimum of privacy to each of the shower’s occupants—not even a door to share between them, so the solution had been to take it in turns.

He stripped his clothes off and tossed them onto the bench along the opposite wall, followed by his clean clothing. He hung his towel on the edge of the wall divider and stepped up to the showerhead—turning it on to maximum.

The hot water blasted down on him, and he sighed—If there was one thing Lima missed about home, it was a proper bath. He hadn’t had one since he snuck out of Argus, and the shower just wasn’t doing it for him.

He scrubbed himself clean, taking his time, and studied the rough scar tissue that crossed from his ribs up to his collarbone. A permanent memento of the worst day of his life, eagerly making sure that he never forgot, even for a single day. A constant reminder of the things that had been taken from him and the things that he needed to do because of it.

The door creaked as it opened, and he raised an eyebrow under the spray of water before ignoring it, and the shower on the other side of the divider turned on after a minute. He set about drenching his short hair in shampoo and massaging the thick liquid into his scalp, the motion as pleasant as it always was.

“Why are you up so early?” Lux asked quietly.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Lima admitted, “I’m too excited, I guess. Sorry, I woke you up.”

“I was already awake,” Lux said easily, “Hey, can I use your shampoo?”

Lima pouted, before blindly reaching out and taking the bottle, before holding it over the divider for her. He fumbled around in his wire hanging shower shelf until he located the matching conditioner and started on that.

“Thanks,” Lux said, pleased. “What time are you going to find Port?”

“Mission start is at 6:00, but I’ll probably turn up about 5:30.” Lima said quietly, “The duels don’t start until, uh, sometime later, right?”

“I got it wrong a while ago; they actually start at 9:00 am and go to 7:00 pm,” Lux laughed.

“That’s a big wait; what are you three going to do in the meantime?” Lima mumbled, “Yoga? Warm-ups? Or are you going back to bed?”

“I’m going for a run around campus,” Lux admitted, “I’ll try and get Teak and Claire on board; I don’t know how that will go, though. Conditioner?”

“You suck,” Lima whined but held the bottle over the divider for her. “You should have went for a run _first_ , you water waster.”

“Nu-uh.” Lux singsonged. “It’s not like Beacon is going to run out.”

Lima could practically hear the smirk in her voice, and they fell into a silence that lasted for several minutes, with just the sound of water impacting the floor for company.

“Are you actually going to come to the duels?” Lux said quietly.

“I said I would,” Lima said easily, “When have I ever lied to you before?”

“I’ve known you for a week,” Lux said, amused, “You lie all the time; Like the time you told Teak that you _personally_ knew the King of Argus—when there’s no such thing.”

That _was_ a good one.

“Or the time you told Claire that everybody could actually see her when she’s using her semblance,” Lux added, “But we all just pretend so she doesn’t feel bad.”

Lima grinned to himself.

“There was also the time you told our entire class that you ‘bang like a cannon,’” Lux snorted, “Idiot.”

“Ouch,” Lima said, amused. “Alright, you’ve caught me.”

“So, are you going to come or not?” Lux said seriously.

“Why do you want me to be there so badly?” Lima sighed, “There’s literally an entire school of people for you to fight—hey!”

Lima barely managed to catch the two bottles that were tossed back over the divider before they smacked him in the face.

“You beat me without even trying,” Lux said, annoyed, “I lasted longer in a fight against ‘The Invincible Girl’ then I did against you—”

“A lot of girls have that problem,” Lima smirked. “Don’t be embarrassed—”

“Shut up,” Lux demanded, banging on the divider. “Stop trying to derail me!”

Lima sighed; she wasn’t going to let this go.

“Lux, you admitted it yourself, you’ve seen all of Pyrrha’s fights, you’ve studied her attack patterns, her combinations, her stance switches,” Lima said seriously, “You went into that fight with a solid idea on how to fight her—tell me, that first time we fought; what did you know about me?”

Lux didn’t reply for several seconds.

“I knew that you passed the exam to get in,” Lux said, quietly, “and I knew that you and Teak were the last pair to return from the Emerald Forest.”

“I’m going to take a guess here,” Lima said seriously, “You thought since we were so slow, that we were probably the worst pair that passed?”

“Yeah,” Lux admitted.

“So when we did our little free for all, you went into it thinking that none of us were going to stand a chance against you,” Lima ran her down the path, “You didn’t take it seriously, you didn’t attempt to safely figure out what any of us could do—”

“I knew what Claire could do,” Lux said quickly.

“Sure,” Lima allowed, “But you wrote Teak and I off and went into it half-assed—that’s why you lost so fast.”

“Okay, fine.” Lux said firmly, “I’ll admit that’s all true—now tell me why when we fought the second time, and I knew you were dangerous, I still lost in less than thirty seconds!”

“Oh!” Lima said, laughing, “That’s because you totally suck at fighting.”

Lux pulled herself to glare at him from over the top of the divider, hands clenched tightly around the material.

“You better be at the duels today.” Lux hissed. “Because I’m going to make you eat those words.”

“Stop peeking you, damn pervert!” Lima said incredulously, “My eyes are up here, lady!”

* * *

Friday, 11th April, 79AGW.  
Emerald Forest, Beacon.  
6:03 am.

“Welcome, welcome!” Professor Port said cheerfully, “I’m glad to see how many of you choose to accompany me!”

Lima nodded seriously at the man; there were more people than he expected to show up, about ten in total, including himself. A few were upper years, but he didn’t recognize any of them, but there were some that he did know—the entirety of Team Juniper, half of which looked still mostly asleep.

“Now, guidelines for today’s hunts,” Professor Port said seriously, “First-timers, you are required to stay within my sight until I give you dispensation to roam; Once I see that you are capable of handling yourself, you will be free to hunt unsupervised, the rest of you—you’re already connected, and free to go, happy hunting.”

The older students vanished in a few moments, heading out unsupervised and leaving Lima, Team Juniper, and a Faunus girl with rabbit ears behind. Slightly disappointing that he wouldn’t be heading off on his own, but Lima knew he would be able to prove himself quickly and get that dispensation.

“Now, scrolls out, you’ll receive a prompt—yes, there we are—connect to the Hunt group—fantastic—no hold on—turn on your connectivity Mr. Arc,” Professor Port laughed, waiting for them all to connect. “Perfect, that seems to be all of you—now, you’ll see today’s targets, that’s the minimum amount needed to keep the local Grimm population from becoming a serious threat; you are, of course, more than welcome to go beyond that quota! I would even encourage you too; the more, the better, honestly.”

The man was very quickly solidifying himself as his favorite instructor. Lima searched the list objectives, noting the species, amounts, and most likely locations to travel to find them.

“Your scrolls will be recording and tracking your own personal contributions; that information will only be reviewed by the teachers as an _aid_ to track how much experience each of you has, so please don’t treat this as some kind of competition. You are free to share it with one another if you wish to.” Professor Port said, smiling widely, “Now, with all of that out of the way, do you have any questions?”

“How can I fast track my way to unsupervised hunting?” Lima said immediately.

“An enthusiastic bunch this year, I see!” Port laughed, “Is there anyone else who wishes to strike out on their own?”

Lima studied the faces of the group quickly—Pyrrha was watching Jaune, who looked nervous at the idea. Ren was as blank-faced as ever, while Nora wasn’t even paying attention; instead, she was tracking a butterfly through the air with an intent stare. The unknown brown haired girl looked down when he turned to her but stepped forward.

“I’m comfortable enough to go out on my own as well.” The girl said sheepishly.

“Very well,” Port said, pleased, “You two will be handling the bulk of the hunting for this trip; I’ll remain as an observer, Ms. Nikos, Mr. Arc. Mr. Ren, and Ms. Valkryie, you are all welcome to step in whenever you feel comfortable.”

“Uh, you’re not going to help, sir?” Jaune said weakly, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Lima turned to him with narrowed eyes as Jaune aligned himself with the side of evil.

“Jaune, I will snap my left foot off in your ass—twice,” Lima said seriously. “Don’t ruin this for me.”

Jaune gave him a weird look before turning to his teammates for assistance.

“We will be fine, Jaune, I promise,” Pyrrha said pleasantly.

“Ren!” Nora said awestruck, “It’s so pretty, look at the pattern on its wings!”

“Mm.” Ren agreed easily. “Very distinctive.”

Jaune didn’t look very reassured by the complete lack of attention the other two team members were paying to the situation.

“Okay, then,” Jaune said lamely, giving Lima the thumbs up. “You do you, buddy.”

Lima grinned.

“You have the helm, Ms. Scarlatina, Mr. Morta—whenever you are ready.” Professor Port said cheerfully.

Lima nodded seriously before checking his scroll for the girl’s given name; he found her aura bar listed amongst the hunt participants and nodded again.

“Velvet,” Lima greeted, “I like your ears; they look very soft—now let’s go kill some Grimm.”

“U-um, thank you?” Velvet said weakly.

Lima strode off into the trees, compacted bow in his hand, riding a high he hadn’t experienced since the attack on the train.

* * *

Lima kept an eye on the objectives and which of them were being filled fastest by the unsupervised students.

It seemed to him that the most common target was Beowulfs, followed by Boarbatusks. That left Nevermore—the standard sized ones, not the enormous variety—and Ursa. Nevermore were easier to miss and generally harder to hunt as they tended to stick to high areas when they weren’t flying around.

Ursa, however, were much easier to find and almost impossible to miss. Large, thick, limbed beasts with a solid white mask of bone—they had five razor-sharp claws, bone fragments protruding from their joints, and a series of bone spikes that ran the length of their spine.

Ursa were most commonly found in the north-east. However, there was a multitude of spots that had non-insignificant amounts as well. The thickest area was too far away to make without pouring on the speed, and he had others to think about. The third densest area was about five minutes away and much more realistic.

“Usra, as we’ve discussed in class,” Professor Port chirped, “Share many traits with those of Beowulfs; they are physically much larger, more durable, and have greater striking strength. Their jaws are more powerful as well, so avoid getting any limbs trapped, or you’ll have a hell of a time getting it back.”

“What’s the best way to fight them?” Jaune asked worriedly.

“Depends on the numbers,” Professor Port said cheerfully, “A single Ursa is slow enough that a hunter could get behind it without much trouble, theirs a lot of spikes protecting its spine, but both sides of its back are mostly uncovered—you can try to line up a shot at its neck from behind as well.”

“And if there’s _more_ than one?” Jaune said slowly. “What do we do then?”

“Counter-pack tactics come into play,” Professor Port said at once, “You’ll need to move around a lot more, use obstacles or the Grimm themselves to block the others from getting towards you—to make the most of this method, you’ll need to bait out an opening from the front, have it commit to an attack and then counter towards its neck, or exposed limbs if you would rather whittle it down first—it goes without saying to target the unarmored portions of course!”

“Of course,” Jaune said weakly.

“Velvet,” Lima said seriously, “Two minor, twenty meters that way, you see them?”

“Yes,” Velvet said quietly, “I’ll take the one on the right.”

“Understood,” Lima agreed.

He sprinted off to the left, flanking wide and through the trees, keeping both of the Grimm in his sight. He spotted Velvet in the distance, moving in a straight path towards her own. He stepped into his own Grimms line of sight, and it immediately reacted, heading straight towards him, leaving its ally behind without a moment’s thought.

The Ursa charged towards him, and he threw himself up into the air, twisted until his unfolding bow was pointed below him, and put a spike directly through the back of its head and out the front of the mask, pinning it to the ground with a dull thud.

Lima watched with glee as the disgusting creature twitched and started to dissolve into motes of black dust.

Once it was finally gone, he turned to find Velvet standing over her own target, and a glowing blue hard light sword in her hand, that soon vanished into sparks, disappearing from view.

“Excuse me,” Velvet said hopefully, “Do you mind if I take your picture?”

Lima blinked at the question before shrugging; she already had a very advanced but enormous looking camera in her hands—the same device where the sword had no doubt been projected from. Was it used for scanning the weapons to make hard light replicas?

“Go for it,” Lima said idly, “How many hits do you get out of one of those hard light weapons?”

Velvet snapped a picture of him, and he waited until she was done before stowing the spike away and compacting the bow.

“It depends on the force used, but I usually get a few.” Velvet said embarrassedly, “I hope you don’t mind me copying your bow?”

“I don’t really care,” Lima admitted, “It’s going towards killing Grimm, so I’m happy. You should probably think about getting a backup weapon, though, just in case something damages your projector.”

Velvet let out a startled laugh before rushing to explain herself.

“My teammate tells me that all the time.” Velvet admitted quickly, “For a second, you sounded just like her.”

“What’s your usual response to the question?” Lima grinned.

“I can’t just choose _one_.” Velvet said sheepishly.

“Nice.” Lima laughed.

“Well done!” Professor Port said boisterously, “That was fantastic, both of you—but plenty more to deal with before we are done here.”

Lima nodded happily, and the group continued the hunt.

* * *

“Hey, Lima?” Jaune asked quietly as they watched Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha fight off a trio of Ursa.

“Hey man, what’s up?” Lima said, smiling.

“How did you get so good at all of this?” Jaune said quietly enough that no one else could overhear.

“I had a lot of motivation,” Lima said easily, watching him. “What’s your reason for being here?”

“At Beacon?” Jaune asking for clarification. “I want to be strong.”

“Then become strong,” Lima shrugged, “Nothings stopping you, buddy.”

“It’s not that simple,” Jaune frowned.

“Sure, it is. Just find someone strong to fight on the regular and then do it as often as possible.” Lima said simply, “The stronger they are, the better. The faster they are, the better. The harder they are to fight, the more you’ll learn from the struggle, the better strategies you’ll develop to deal with them. After years of hard work, you’ll realize that you are suddenly finding it hard to find a challenging opponent—You know what you do then?”

“What?” Jaune said seriously.

The guy looked like he was seconds away from writing it all down.

“You keep on looking, idiot.” Lima said, smiling, “You know how everyone always says that stupid line, about how there are no shortcuts to greatness?”

“Yeah,” Jaune said frowning.

“It’s a totally cringe line, and everybody that says it is an asshole,” Lima said confidently, “But they are also correct; you won’t get strong by looking for a special technique that will let you one-shot your enemy, and you won’t wake up one day with a sudden miraculous strength that lets your fight off a horde of Grimm without training to do it—you need to hone your body into a weapon, Jaune.”

“How do I—” Jaune said in frustration. “How _exactly_ do I put that into practice?”

“You want more explicit advice?” Lima said curiously before shrugging again. “Alright, I got you fam; Every single day, challenge Pyrrha to a fight; your goal is to last thirty seconds while she is going all out. That’s it, after a few months of that—well, you’ll certainly be better off than you are now.”

“You want me to fight, _Pyrrha_?” Jaune said nervously, “You do know she’s called the _Invincible_ girl for a reason, right?”

“You asked me for a working plan; I gave you a working plan.” Lima insisted, rapping his knuckles on the guy’s chest piece. “Just do it, you wuss.”

“Fine!” Jaune huffed, brushing the front of his armor. “What should I do when I get to thirty seconds?”

Lima started laughing.

“What?!” Jaune demanded. “It’s a serious question!”

“You’re so optimistic, Jaune,” Lima grinned, “That’s what I like about you, buddy.”

“That _sounds_ like a compliment,” Jaune said suspiciously. “But it’s not, is it?”


End file.
